The quality of drinking water in several municipalities in the province of Almería is compromised due to excessive nitrates. This situation has been brought to light by Greenpeace, which, based on data from the National Consumer Water Information System (SINAC) of the Ministry of Health, has developed an interactive map to warn about areas where water could pose a health risk.
The Almerian municipalities identified with nitrate levels equal to or exceeding 50 mg/l, the current legal limit, are Chirivel, Lubrín, Viator, Turrillas, Purchena, and Huércal-Overa. In these locations, tap water exceeded the permitted concentration during 2024.
“"Nitrate water contamination is invisible. You can't see it or smell it. Accessing official data is really complicated, and with the map Greenpeace has launched, anyone will be able to know how the water coming out of their tap is and act on the problem. We cannot continue to allow factory farms to poison everyone's water so that the kings of meat can get rich. We export the vast majority of pork and are left with water that is, literally, crap."
Furthermore, the report emphasizes that the current legal limit of 50 mg/l is considered obsolete according to the latest scientific evidence, which recommends a threshold of only 6 mg/l to protect health. If this new limit were applied, seven additional municipalities would be added to the list of critical points: Adra, La Mojonera, Lucainena de las Torres, Turre, Vera, Vélez-Rubio, and Vélez-Blanco.
Nationally, the Greenpeace map reveals that 332 Spanish municipalities could not consume tap water at some point in 2024, meaning that 51.17% of the analyzed municipalities exceed the nitrate limit recommended by science. This contamination is primarily attributed to the massive use of synthetic fertilizers in intensive agriculture and waste from intensive livestock farming.
