Sagunto's council provisionally green-lighted the modification of the water ordinance, which includes two new tariffs. The measure aims to finance strategic investments and ensure drinking water in areas with private wells.
The Sagunto City Council has provisionally approved the modification of the ordinance regulating water and sewage services. The agreement, adopted in a council meeting, incorporates two new tariffs and opens a thirty-day public exposure period.
The vote reflected a divided landscape: the PSOE voted in favour, EU – Unides Podem abstained, while PP, IP, Vox, and Compromís per Sagunt voted against. The file will be published in the Official Bulletin of the Province of Valencia, on the municipal notice board, and in a widely circulated provincial newspaper.
One of the new tariffs is for high water for self-sufficient areas, meaning areas supplied by private wells. The aim is for these sectors to connect to the municipal network and receive drinking water under appropriate sanitary conditions, as required by the Regulation of Health Criteria for the Quality of Drinking Water (RD 3/2023).
The measure responds to reports from the Public Health Department of the Conselleria de Sanitat declaring the water from some of these self-sufficient areas as not suitable for human consumption. The council is obliged to guarantee supply throughout the municipal area, so this tariff will help cover the connection and maintenance of the service.
The second tariff, for investments, was in effect between 2011 and 2021 with satisfactory results, according to the agreement itself. It is now being reintroduced to finance improvements in the integral water cycle, managed by the mixed company Aigües de Sagunt since 2009. Priorities include strengthening supply, activating alternative sources for irrigation and street cleaning, improving sanitation in flood-prone areas, and renewing obsolete infrastructure.
The new investment tariffs will be applied per meter and month based on diameter and flow. Thus, for diameters up to 15 mm and a flow of 2.5 m³/h, the charge will be 3.955 euros; for 20 mm and 4 m³/h, 4.792 euros; for 25 mm and 6.3 m³/h, 6.075 euros; and for more than 30 mm and more than 6.3 m³/h, 7.833 euros.
The text now approved is in the phase of allegations. Residents and interested entities will be able to submit their suggestions during the month-long period following the official publication. After this process, the council must ratify the modification definitively.
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