Water outages continue in El Fraile: residents demand the construction of a second pipe.
In the Spanish town of El Fraile, residents are gathering again to protest water supply disruptions, demanding the construction of a new water pipe and transparent communication with the town hall.
"We want the water in the taps to be there always, not like a lottery. So that we don't have to run to the store for water before we wash," said Sandra Tormo, a representative of the local union Santa Isabel de Portugal in El Fraile.
After the summer break, they will meet again every Friday to discuss the water problem. "We will meet until they fix our water, or at least start building a second pipe," says Sandra.
El Fraile has had water problems for several months: sometimes there is no water, sometimes the pressure is weak, sometimes the pipes burst. And all this affects hundreds of families. Although they tried to fix something in the summer, people say it hasn't gotten any better.
According to Sandra, part of the new pipe has already been installed - about 800 meters out of 2,200. "But when they gave more pressure, the old pipes in the city started to burst. There were puddles in the streets. Then the pressure was reduced again, especially at night, and people who live further from the center have almost no water again," she complained.
Last weekend, the water disappeared again. "There was still a little on Saturday, but nothing at all on Sunday. We live like on a powder keg: we don't know if there will be water in the tank after we flush," says the union representative.
People are unhappy that they have not yet started building the second pipe, which they believe will solve the problem. "They haven't even announced a tender for this pipe yet. We tried to contact the mayor's office, but they say they need to consult. They don't say anything specific. But they need to tell people what's going on," added Sandra.
She believes that there is a big problem with communication. "It's not scary to say that the deadlines are being delayed, but you need to explain why. And when the mayor's office is silent, people think that they have been forgotten again because they have stopped protesting," she notes.
People are very angry. "They call me at any time: in the evening, and during the day... They talk about their problems. We try to calm them down, but sometimes I want to go to the mayor's office and make a scandal there," Sandra admitted. She says she feels powerless because the authorities do not react in any way.
The local leader explained that the protests were suspended in August due to the heat and holidays, and not because they believed the promises of the authorities. "We took a break, but now we will start again. At the meeting, we were patted on the shoulder, but nothing changed," she concluded.