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27 jan - 02 feb 2012
iSSUE 641
Water shocker by jack troughton
Coastal isolation
FORMER MAYOR of Orihuela Monica Lorente, talking exclusively to RTN this week, said: “The coast is being politically isolated.” Read the full story on page 5.
SHOCKED COSTA Blanca pensioners were “astounded” to learn their water bill for the last three months had soared to an eye-watering 12,000€. An estimated 4,000 cubic metres of water had drained away after an underground pipe at their home in Els Poblets burst. Because there was no visible signs of a leak despite the size of the problem, retired Mr and Mrs E – they have asked RTN not to identify them – had no idea there was anything wrong. And they warned readers to be on their guard – and regularly check their meters for signs of a hidden leak and turn off the supply at the meter if they go away. There are two water meters in the boundary wall of the property. One governs the supply into the villa, the other controls the “luxury” or “garden” water needed for the swimming pool, shower and garden taps. Sometime during the last quarter – the September reading was normal – the underground rubber pipe had perished and precious water lost. Mr E said they had lived in Els Poblets for nine years and in that time water bills were on average around the 50€ mark. “The meters have been read quite normally. Obviously the amount we use varies according to the season but there
have been no hiccoughs as such. METER “At the beginning of December, three months after the last normal bill, the door bell rang and it was an official from the water company Aqualia who was obviously reading the meter. “He said we had a problem. He pointed out one of the meters, the one concerning the garden water – it was going round like a Catherine Wheel even though there was nothing turned on.” Mr E said: “The official rang the local office of Aqualia in Els Poblets to get our previous reading. We were astounded to find when he worked it out with a calculator, that the bill would come to 12,146€. “When we picked ourselves up, he pointed to several things – his machine and the meter. He said what the last reading was and what had been used since – it was around 4,000 cubic metres of water - an awful lot of water.” The couple immediately rang a plumber and the insurance company. “It was urgent because there was no sign of water anywhere around the property, not a drop. It seems the ground is extremely absorbent – the water would have gone straight down into the ground and disappeared out to the ocean.” Continued on page 3