water

It is raining so much in the province of Jaén that the olive oil harvest has had a problem: there is too much water

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The “liquid gold” market expected a great recovery after years of drought, but the data you have given the Food Information and Control Agency At the end of December 2025, they have had a significant impact. Especially in the epicenter of oil production in our countrysuch as Jaén, where it has been registered a 45% drop in its accumulated production. Although it is something that hides an important economic paradox: it is selling more than ever. The figures. As detailed by the Ministry of Agriculture itselfthe reality of the current campaign is radically different from the previous one. While in 2024 Jaén accumulated almost 300,000 tons at the end of the year, this 2025 it has remained at half speed with 164,841 tons, which represents a variation of 45.3%. Something that has also been noticed at the national level. What has happened? Although everyone might think that we are talking about the drought that has caused there to be fewer olives, the reality is that excess rain has been the problem. The intense rainfall of November and December 2025, although beneficial for the tree in the long termhave been an obstacle to the harvest. Logically, with the mud it is difficult to enter with the machines to be able to pick the olives or work by hand. This has caused the harvest to be delayed and has affected the yield of the fruit. Other factors. Beyond the excess of rain at the end of this year, we must also highlight the high temperatures that were recorded in the month of June 2025, which damaged the weight of the fruit after spring fruit set that promised a lot, but fell short. Besides, according to COAG Jaénthe delay in taking the olive to the olive mill due to the weather has caused part of the fruit to suffer damage, reducing the final yield. Less oil, but more sales. Even though the silos fill more slowly, the market is extremely active. UPA Andalusia has highlighted that, despite the decrease in production, sales have increased by 10% in the last quarter, with a month of November where oil output reached 129,727 tons. This means that the consumer continues to demand olive oil despite the instability of recent years. Exports are also doing well, with a substantial increase of 44% in Andalusia, which puts pressure on current stocks, which are 13% lower than last year. The price. Without a doubt it is the most important point for the consumer, especially when in the past we have already seen really high prices for olive oil due to a bad harvest. Logic dictates that if supply falls and demand increases, prices should increase, but experts call for considerable caution. Right now, the price of Extra Virgin oil at origin moves between 4.20 and 4.29 euros per liter, and what is expected is that it will remain at a stable price during the year 2026, without major drops to maintain the stability of the sector that needs to cover costs. Images | Kostas Morfiris Nazar Hrabovyi In Xataka | Half of Spain has gone crazy with the question of whether olives make you fat or not. But your biggest problem is not calories.

It has a lot of autonomy and is water resistant

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Although I feel a certain predilection towards Rakuten’s Kobo brand, the truth is that The current generation of Kindle seems most interesting to meespecially the model Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition. It is a very complete eReader, and I would choose it over its lesser brother, the Kindle Colorsoft. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition The price could vary. We earn commission from these links With wireless charging and great autonomy Some of the particularities that interest me most about Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is that it has wireless charging and adjustable front lightsomething the Kindle Colorsoft lacks. In addition, its theoretical autonomy is up to 8 weeks, a very high figure to not depend so much on the charger. As its name indicates, this model incorporates a color screen that offers a resolution of 150 dpi, although it also allows reading in black and white with a 300 dpi resolution (the same one that we see in the rest of the models, like the Kindle Paperwhite). Its screen is seven inchesso it is somewhat small for reading comics and manga (although by proxy you can). I find the usefulness of its color screen most useful for viewing the covers or illustrations of a novel, as well as the possibility of underline text with various colors thus representing different characters. You may also be interested Kobo Libra Color eReader | 7″ E Ink Kaleido™ 3 Screen | Adjustable Color Temperature and Brightness | Blue Light Reduction | eBooks and AudioBooks | 32 GB Memory | Water Resistant | Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Amazon Kindle Scribe (64GB) | Redesigned screen with uniform edges. Write by hand on your books and documents | Premium pencil | Tungsten gray The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Javier PastorAmazon In Xataka | Best eBooks. Which one to buy and nine recommended models In Xataka | Kindle Colorsoft Vs Kobo Libra Color. Which eReader with a color screen to choose according to your tastes and needs

Someone stole 56 million liters of water during the last 18 months in Murcia. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

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A pendulum and a couple of wooden sticks are the only tools that dowsers need to, supposedlydetect the magnetic flows of water currents to find underground water. Actually, a dowser is not much use, but it is the name with which SEPRONA baptized a surveillance cycle to catch the water thieves. One of the last cases It is that of the 50 million liters looted by two businessmen in a period of 18 months. But it is neither an isolated case nor something that shows signs of stopping. Louvres. One of the latest SEPRONA operations have taken place in Puerto Lumbreras, in the Region of Murcia, where agents have opened proceedings against two businessmen as alleged perpetrators of a crime against natural resources and the environment. It is estimated that they carried out well exploitation activities for decades, but to be specific, in the last 18 months alone, 56 million liters of groundwater were allegedly stolen. Those investigated used a clandestine well without a volumetric meter that was hidden in one of the companies and was not water that they used to irrigate their own crops (something that is usually common in this type of activity), but to sell. Pirate hydrological. They were capable of extracting more than 100,000 liters a day, which they sold and distributed through their own tanker trucks. Its use? Intensive livestock pig farms. Sale to other companies. Sale to individuals for filling swimming pools. Fine or “operational cost”? SEPRONA began the investigation after a complaint signed by 128 residents of Zarzalico who detected an illegal pipeline of several kilometers built to supply feedlots, and it is estimated that the two businessmen invoiced about 275,000 euros during the 18 months already mentioned. The curious thing about the matter is that, as we say, it has only been investigated for a year and a half, so the figure could be astronomical if the estimate that the activity was carried out for decades is true. Water theft is not something new, far from it, and in fact there are studies which suggest that, for more than a century, it was a practice that occurred in the Spanish southeast. It makes complete sense if we take into account that the area, with Almería or Murcia, being the “orchard of Europe”, is not exactly in which the most rainfall is recordedbut where it is most needed for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. In fact, this is called “virtual water” that these areas export in tomatoes, lettuce or avocados. This theft of water has been taken as a “survival mechanism”, something necessary to maintain activity during droughts, and there is also studies which point out that the administrative fines received by those who commit the infraction are lower than the economic benefit obtained from the stolen water. Illegal wells in southern Spain in the Andalusia region Devastating. The problem is that the accounts don’t add up where it matters most: in nature. The systematic depletion of aquifers due to illegal well activities has led to the depletion of some of the most important wetlands in our geography. Doñana is the clear examplero, since the national park has been, and is being, drained by hundreds of illegal wells for cultivation. But you don’t have to go far from Puerto Lumbreras to see the effects, and the Mar Menor is another example. Fresh underground water is looted and, sometimes, used to irrigate agricultural fields in which nitrate fertilizers are used that, due to runoff, filter into the soil or end up directly in the sea. This causes the water to have less oxygen than it should, and when it ends up in the lagoon, the fish die from anoxia. Add and continue. Unfortunately, as we say, it is not even a problem new… neither isolated. These last years We have been talking about dozens of people investigated, detained and convicted. The Malaga water company, in fact, has even hired private detectives to monitor employees, suppliers and customers. According to WWFthere are more than 500,000 illegal wells in Spain, the benefits offset the administrative fines and fevers like avocado fever They don’t help at all. Images | Greenpeace, Niriho khoka In Xataka | Andalusia has become a hostile land for the avocado. So an unexpected region is taking over: Galicia

Data centers consume a lot of water, but it is probably less than we thought. It’s a book’s fault

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We can criticize the AI ​​boom for many reasons, but there is one that deeply affected society: the environmental impact, more specifically water consumption of each interaction with the AI, necessary to be able to cool the servers. The problem is realbut everything indicates that it has been magnified and the origin would be a miscalculation in a popular book. the book. It is ‘Empire of AI’ written by Karen Hao and which we already talked about in Xataka. After interviewing hundreds of former employees and people close to the company, the author constructs a detailed and highly critical account of OpenAI, more specifically its CEO Sam Altman. Among the criticisms of this ‘AI empire’, Hao mentions the excessive water consumption of AI, going so far as to state that a data center would consume 1,000 times more water than a city of 88,000 inhabitants. The criticism. Andy Masley tells it in his newsletter The Weird Turn Pro. According to their calculations, in reality 22% of what the city consumes or 3% of the entire municipal system. Furthermore, Masley states that the book confuses water extraction (temporary withdrawal that is returned to the network) with real consumption. The calculation error. The author herself has responded to the article de Masley citing the email he sent to the Municipal Drinking Water and Sewage Service of Chile (SMAPA), from whom he requested information on the total water consumption of Cerrillos and Maipu, the towns he used to make the consumption comparison. The problem is that Hao requested the amount in liters, but they responded without specifying the units and everything indicates that they were actually cubic meters, hence the large discrepancy. The author has consulted again with the SMAPA to clarify this information. It seems that, indeed, there is an error. Estimates. How much water AI consumes has been a recurring question in recent years. In September 2024, a study published by Washington Post He calculated that, to generate a 100-word text with ChatGPT, 519 milliliters of water were needed. The calculation was made taking into account the total annual consumption of data centers and the type of cooling used. It’s truly outrageous. What companies say. AI companies are not very transparent regarding the water and energy consumption of their data centers. The big technology companies give the total annual consumption data in their sustainability reports. We know that a large part of the consumption goes to data centers, but it is not possible to know the real consumption of each search. Google has been the only one that has published specific energy and water consumption data from its AI. According to the company, the water consumption for each Gemini consultation was 0.26 milliliters, or in other words, about five drops of water. We cannot extrapolate this data to all data centers or all companies, but it does seem that previous estimates are quite exaggerated. Water controversy. All of this doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem with water and AI. In fact, the Cerrillos data center where the alleged calculation error is It was never built because the Chilean justice system paralyzed it. due to the climatic impact it was going to have, especially in the context of drought in which the region found itself. Data centers need a lot of water, so much so that initiatives are emerging to cool them submerging them in the ocean. The other problem. Water is just one of the problems data centers face, energy demand poses an even greater challenge. In 2024, Data centers already accounted for 4% of total electricity consumption in the United States and in the surroundings of some of these beasts the electricity bill has risen 267% in recent years. Big tech is already warning: there is no power for so many chips and they are being raised since create nuclear power plants until take their data centers to space. Image | Google In Xataka | What is happening in the US is a warning for Spain: data centers driving up electricity bills in homes

A family wanted to live with only solar panels, well water and a garden. Until Italy took away her children

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High in a forest in Abruzzo, Italy, a stone house now stands silent. Until just a few weeks ago, that place was the self-sufficient refuge of Nathan Trevallion, Catherine Birmingham and their three children. But a few days ago, a judge decided to remove them of family custody for living disconnected from the grid, without schooling and in an environment that he considered unhealthy. The resolution started a fire political and social in Italy. What for the family was a self-sufficient life project—solar panels, well water, compostable toilet, garden—has become a court case with enormous international repercussions. The story, however, goes beyond an Italian court order. It is the symptom of something bigger: a growing movement in Europe—and also in Spain—of families and communities seeking to get out of the urban grind, disconnect from the electrical grid and live self-sufficiently. How far does the freedom to choose that lifestyle go? And where does the State’s intervention begin, especially when minors are involved? The case that divided Italy. The family, of Australian and British origin, had been living in a forest in Palmoli since 2021. The house was precarious but, according to themenough: electricity with solar panels, well water and an outdoor composting area as a toilet. In autumn 2024, all were hospitalized due to accidental mushroom poisoning. That episode set off alarm bells for social services. According to Corriere della Seraa technical report described the home as “ruin” and “without adequate conditions for minors.” That’s when social services intervened. The lack of schooling of the minors, the absence of pediatric follow-up and the almost total isolation in which the family lived set off all the alarms. Following these reports, a court in L’Aquila ordered in November the withdrawal of parental authority and the transfer of the children to a center, where the mother could stay next to them. The decision has caused a real political earthquakewhere political leaders and several judicial associations denounced pressure from the Government. At the same time, more than 150,000 people signed online petitions demanding that minors return to their parents. Off-grid: from bucolic dream to global phenomenon. To understand the background, just open Instagram. As Ethic magazine explainsit is enough for the algorithm to detect a certain interest in self-sufficiency to fill the feed of videos of families drying their own food, women showing their renovated campers or couples who live half a year off what they grow and collect. life off-grid or “self-sufficient” has become an aesthetic, philosophy and even aspiration for emotional disconnection. But it is also political. The same medium reminds that a small part of the movement arises from groups “sovereign citizen“who reject the authority of the State. They are a minority, but they exist. The majority, on the other hand, opts for the off-grid for reasons of sustainability, teleworking, search for autonomy or reaction to the climate crisis. Also out of fear: there are communities —like the ecovillage of Tamera, in Portugal— that are preparing for a possible collapse of the current model. In Sweden and Finland, the governments have released official guides to prepare for extreme scenarios. Spain is not far behind. The movement off-grid It has also taken root. It is no longer a thing of hippie ecovillages of the 90s: today it is embraced by engineers, teleworkers, urban families suffocated by the cost of living and foreigners from northern Europe who seek autonomy and nature. In the Karrantza valley (Bizkaia), for example, a family left town to produce their own energy and grow their food, a model that is repeated in the Basque Country, Cantabria or the interior of Spain, where many opt for hybrid solutions—solar panels, wood stoves and water recovery—combined with public school and community life. At the same time, ecovillages such as Matavenero, Lakabe or Arterra Bizimodu, according to elDiario.esconsolidate rural repopulation based on sustainability and self-management. And adding to this trend is the arrival of new off-griders foreigners. As Euroweekly points outmore and more British, German or Dutch families buy farmhouses in Catalonia, the Alpujarra or Castellón to disconnect from the grid. Some stories border on the epic: an English couple built their life from scratch with yurts, dry toilets and rain catchers. What they are looking for – a lower cost of living, teleworking, autonomy or simply another way of living – comes with a price: living with wild boars, storms and no less bureaucracy. But legally how is the matter? The contrast with Italy becomes evident when Spanish regulations are analyzed. In energy matters, the framework is clear: Royal Decree 244/2019 It allows self-consumption and does not require contracting electricity supply. Living with isolated solar panels, batteries or small generators is perfectly legal as long as the installation meets safety standards and is carried out by a licensed professional. Legalization is not strictly mandatory, but it is advisable to access public aid, obtain certificates or take out specific insurance. Something similar happens with water. The Water Law establishes that groundwater is public domainso any well—with few exceptions—must have authorization from the corresponding Hydrographic Confederation. Drilling without a permit or extracting water from a protected aquifer can lead to significant penalties. In other words, you can live with your own well, but the collection must be regularized. The point that makes the difference. When it comes to housing, living in a remote area is not illegal as long as the construction has the necessary documentation: license, occupancy certificate and minimum health and safety conditions. But if minors live in that environment and the house presents risks to their well-being, authorities can intervene. However, the determining point is in education as in Italy. Unlike other European countries, Spain required by law that all minors between 6 and 16 years old are educated in recognized centers. He homeschooling is not regulated and, in practice, it is considered illegal. A family that decided to educate their children exclusively at home would face truancy proceedings, visits from social services and even judicial measures in serious … Read more

BYD pours cold water on its hypothetical factory in Spain

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BYD does not have a plan on the table to open a factory in our country. At least, that is what Alberto de Aza, general director of BYD for Spain and Portugal, maintains, who in an interview with EFE has stated that the company is focused on its Hungarian factory. According to De Aza, there are neither production problems nor are there intentions to open a plant in Spain. BYD is interested in Spain. Spain has sounded strong on two occasions to be the home of a BYD car production plant for Europe. He did it first in 2023 when it was learned that the company was touring Europe looking for a location to a factory. Before the end of that same year, we knew that Hungary had been chosen. Now, information has suggested that BYD is once again studying the opening of a factory. And, according to ReutersSpain was once again one of the first candidates. Its operating costs and good performance in the country seemed to be two incentives to take into account for the future. There are no plans. That is what Alberto de Aza, general director of BYD for Spain and Portugal, answered in an interview with EFE. The head of the company in our country has indicated that “there is no specific plan at this time to implement a production center in Spain.” The response is a bucket of cold water to the information that indicated that Spain was the first on the starting line of this new race. In fact, just a few days ago the Generalitat of Catalonia confirmed that they had held conversations with company representatives. And shortly before, in October, the De Aza spoke of Spain as “an ideal place” to expand the company’s European manufacturing. For now, Hungary. At the moment, BYD seems to be focused on opening its plant in Hungary. Everything indicates that “you’ll see later.” And the company has started very strongly in our country but a good part of the European market is resisting. The commitment to plug-in hybrids at attractive prices, such as the BYD Atto 2 DM-i It is confirmation that they try to find solutions and alternatives. To this we must add that the company has faced some complications related to its Hungarian plant. The first is whether you are using enough local employees. The second is whether it is going to create a sufficiently dense industrial network around it. complicated lace. BYD is not the only company that is in the eye of the European Union for how they manufacture (in this case, hope to manufacture) their cars on European soil. At the moment, electric cars coming from China are taxed with specific tariffs for each company but not so with plug-in hybrids. To avoid this specific and general tariff (10% on imports arriving from China), Chinese manufacturers talk about producing in Europe. However, the European Union closely monitors how these cars are manufactured. And there is talk of producing vehicles using almost assembled kits that arrive in Europe by boat and are given the finishing touches on European soil. Something like if a puzzle of 1,000 pieces arrived assembled without joining four large groups of them. This, European regulators assure, might not be enough to skip tariffs. It is a practice that already has delayed the arrival of the electric Omoda 5 to the Barcelona factory, for example. Spain, why? To the above we must add a detail: Spain has moved into a complicated game of balance with China. In addition to the fact that our country offers lower operating costs (labor or energy) to manufacturers compared to other European nations, the truth is that there is another point of view. In the final approval of tariffs on Chinese electric cars, Spain veered from a resounding “yes” to abstention. Shortly after its application, it was leaked that the Chinese State had ordered its manufacturers stop all investments in the countries that supported those tariffs. Italy, for example, would have been one of the most affected countries. Since then, it has been leaked that BYD was interested in Spain to house a new European factory. But also CATL reached an agreement with Stellantis to launch a battery production plant in Aragon. It is no coincidence that Spain has pampered its relations with China lately. Photo | Mercedes and Xataka In Xataka | “They assemble Chinese cars with Chinese components and Chinese personnel”: the EU is beginning to suspect the manufacturers’ plants

Spain wants more pork and more safe water in its reservoirs. And he is discovering that both things at the same time are not possible.

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Hidden in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León on Monday, there was something that they did not suspect would be controversial: the authorization to install more than 3,500 heads of pigs on the outskirts of San Cebrián de Castro, province of Zamora. Why would it be controversial? As recognized in the Diario de Zamorais the umpteenth authorization of this type in recent years and, unlike others, this macro farm is not close to any urban center. The only small problem is that, well, it is 100 meters from the Ricobayo reservoir, right where the Esla flows into the Duero. And is that a problem? The idea is to install a pig farm “with capacity for 3,100 sows with piglets until weaning (from 0 to 6 kilos in weight), with 620 replacement sows and six boars.” Just over 132,000 square meters, more than a dozen warehouses, a manure dump with a capacity for 1,215 cubic meters and two enormous slurry ponds with a capacity for 14,000 cubic meters. The project insists that “there will be no discharge into the Public Hydraulic Domain”; but, of course, the doubts are more than reasonable. In 2023, 161 Zamora municipalities They were left without drinking water due to contamination of its reservoirs. Because there is also the issue of water consumption. According to the data, an annual water consumption is estimated at 24,479 cubic meters. It’s a lot of water, but it’s not a surprise either: agriculture and livestock consume almost 90% of the Duero basin. And Ricobayo is a critical reservoir And not only for the Northern Plateau. Because what is happening in the Esla River is something much more important than it seems. Spain It is the absolute leader in European porkbut (or “because”) the legal framework is too fragmented and has huge regulatory gaps. That is to say, the basic management of intensive farms has been broken for years. The sum of an unambitious basic state standard, hydrological plans, municipal plans and environmental authorizations leaves room for dozens of towns throughout the country to spend years denouncing the enormous ecological and health consequences of this type of installations. All of this comes at a difficult time. Because the macro farm industry is about to reach its key moment: it is not only that the administration is following The closest issue is that the prosecution is taking cards in the matter. That is to say, in the near future, Spain is going to have to clarify what it wants to be at an agricultural level and at what cost. But you can’t do it with your back to the externalities it produces. The competitiveness of Spanish pork is based on vertical integration, efficiency and scale; and that pushes farms to have greater capacity and associated plants (feed, slurry treatment, biogas, etc.). That is, it puts completely new pressure on parts of the system that are not prepared to withstand it. Water is one of those problems. The Spanish water reserve is at 51.4% of its capacity and we have just emerged from one of the largest droughts in recent decades: how is it possible that a strategic resource like water enjoys these management problems (and this lack of protection)? That question is indeed more complex than it seems. Image | Bob | Raiden32 In Xataka | The Atlas of Toxic Spain: this is the geography of pollution in our country

It is a gigantic jug of cold water for Spain

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Production of the current Citroën C4 and C4 in The Automotive Tribunewill move to Kenitra, in Morocco. It is a hard blow for automobile production in our country. what has happened. According to “solvent sources” cited in this specialized newspaper, the new generation of these vehicles will begin production in December 2029 at the Stellantis plant in Morocco. The company has not confirmed the date, but has indicated that “the C4, like any other vehicle, has a life and production cycle, but that does not mean that the factory does not have other possible projects on the table that guarantee its viability.” New platform, new strategy. This fourth generation of the C4 and C4 X will be mounted on the platform STLA Small —the last of that family— and will foreseeably start at the end of 2029. This platform has already been awarded to the Vigo and Zaragoza plants, but in a official announcement January 2025, those responsible for Stellantis pointed out that “the Madrid plant will have a future in Villaverde beyond the current Citroën C4, for which the Group is working on several scenarios that will be communicated in due time.” Villaverde’s future is uncertain. The future of the Stellantis plant in Villaverde (Madrid) now seems more uncertain than ever. The company has not given details about that future, but several hypotheses are being considered. On Autoblog they point out that the group plans to transform this plant into a satellite structure of the Figueruelas plant (Zaragoza), as the one in Mangualde (Portugal) is in Vigo. That would see the adoption of the STLA Small platform dedicated to compact electric vehicles. But there are favorable comments. At least if we pay attention to the statements that Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, made a year ago expanding. He then commented that “Madrid is a very good example of a factory that over the last ten years has made a great transformation to improve costs, quality and performance.” The then CEO of Citroën, Thierry Koslas—relieved this summer by Xavier Chardon—agreed with these assessments, stating that this plant “is taken as a reference in costs and quality.” The same thing already happened in Italy. In summer we already reported how Stellantis had announced an investment of 1.2 billion euros in Morocco to expand the production capacity of its plant in Kenitra. The objective: to be able to produce 535,000 cars a year there, which would place it at the level of Vigo. The company already produces the Citroen AMI either Fiat Topolinoand the latter, by the way, began their journey with controversy. Stellantis, which has historical brands like Fiat or Alfa Romeo, has gone leaving aside car production in the transalpine country. Why Morocco. The transfer of the manufacturing process to Morocco seems to respond to the search for a stronger presence in the Mediterranean region and also in its intention to increase its competitiveness. Or what is the same: rationalize production costs and capacities. The European industry is moving towards countries with lower labor costs, less strict regulations and greater tax advantages, and Stellantis is no exception. Already in 2022 they had invested 300 million euros to update the Kenitra plant and introduce the Smart Car platform. Morocco is positioning itself as a rival to beat when it comes to manufacturing cars at a very low price, and even China is taking note. In Xataka | Europe has been filled with Stellantis cars that are not selling. And Madrid and Zaragoza will pay the consequences

water as a super energy store

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That water is the most common substance on Earth It doesn’t mean we know it at all.. In fact, a revolutionary new study has just shown that, under the right conditions, the liquid can take on properties that defy everything we know about it. And the research, published in the journal Naturereveals that water confined in nanometer spaces simultaneously becomes a electrical conductor and in a large energy store. The investigation. This discovery, which seems straight out of science fiction, not only opens the door to a new generation of technologies in energy and biomedicine, but also has an important Spanish seal. It has the key participation of the University of Granada (UGR) in an international team led by the University of Manchester and which has the Nobel Prize in Physics Andre Geim. Dual behavior. Scientists discovered that when water is trapped in channels just one or two nanometers—a space a million times smaller than a millimeter—its electrical behavior is completely transformed. It acquires, at the same time, two properties that until now were considered contradictory. The first of them is extreme electrical conductivity. This means that water becomes such a good conductor of energy that it reaches levels comparable to those of “superionic” liquidswhich means that protons can move through it with great ease. But it also makes it have a large storage capacity comparable to that of “ferroelectric” materials, with a dielectric constant that shoots up to values ​​close to 1,000 when the normal value in water is approximately 80. Contradictory. This discovery is especially striking because it clashes head-on with previous work by the same team, published in Science in 2018. At that time, they concluded that confined water became “electrically dead.” How is it possible that it is now an electrical supermaterial? The answer lies in anisotropy: the properties of water change radically depending on the direction of measurement. The first study measured perpendicular to the layers that confined it; the new one has done it in parallel, revealing its true potential. Technological revolution. Having in a single material, and in water no less, a very high ionic conductivity and an unprecedented energy storage capacity is the dream of any engineer. This dual behavior could be the basis for a new technological era in several fields. One of them is logically energy, since the production of much smaller, safer, more efficient batteries and supercapacitors can be tested with ultra-fast charging times. But it also opens the door to creating a water purification membrane that requires drastically less energy. Spanish contribution. Measuring these properties on such an absurdly small scale was a technical feat, but the raw data obtained were a gibberish of complex signals. This is where the contribution of the University of Granada was decisive. René Fábregas, a researcher at the Department of Applied Mathematics at the UGR, developed a sophisticated mathematical model that allowed the avalanche of experimental data to be correctly interpreted. Their work was the “score” that gave meaning and coherence to the measurements, allowing the amazing properties of confined water to come to light. As pointed out by own statement from the UGRwithout this mathematical model, the discovery would not have been possible. Images | David Becker In Xataka | Millions in advertising convinced us that bottled water was healthier. Until microplastics arrived

literally running out of hot water by 2027

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Brussels has started a new wave of rules designed to protect public health and harmonize standards throughout the Union, and the measure has put manufacturers, regulators and consumers alike on edge… while technicians discuss lists and scientific evaluations in offices and committees, workshops and assembly lines nervously observe the implementation schedule. Therefore, what on paper seems like an unimportant technical detail can lead to something much bigger. A bureaucratic failure. I told it this week the financial times. A cut in a technical list of authorized substances in the European Union – part of an ambitious reform to protect the quality of drinking water that comes into force in 2027 – has unleashed the real possibility that millions of Europeans will become face cold showers. Apparently an administrative omission hafnium and zirconiumkey elements in the enamelling of hot water tanks, do not appear among the recognized substances, and without that authorization more than 90% of current accumulators (water heaters) could be excluded from the European market. What in Brussels is a technical file translates into towns and cities with failing boilers, paralyzed factories and an immediate effect on prices and domestic supply if it is not urgently corrected. Why hafnium and zirconium matter. Hafnium and its “brother” zirconium are not accessories: they participate in the vitrification process inside the tanks and prevent the enamel from cracking. Without them, the protective cover of the tank comes off and the result is obvious and practical: water that does not heat up or premature losses of the equipment. Furthermore, these metals are also used in heat pump varnisha critical component in the thermal electrification that accompanies gas withdrawal. The Times remembered that putting them on the positive list is not a favor to the industry but rather a technical condition for the equipment to work and last as expected. The real economic cost. Replacing hafnium or zirconium with alternatives such as steel or copper would increase the manufacturing cost between four and five timesaccording to the manufacturers, an increase that would inevitably fall on consumers already affected by the energy crisis. For companies the ability to compete on price and supply product in Europe would be at risk facing non-EU rivals that do not face the same regulatory labyrinth, which increases the threat of relocation or loss of industrial investment on the continent. Complexity and absences. The episode reveals two institutional problems: on the one hand, the Commission’s regulatory roadmap did not precisely consider that hot water tanks are part of the drinking water circuit, and on the other, the mechanism to correct the oversight is slow and technocratic. The Commission maintains that it is the Member Statesthose who must notify the need to authorize these substances, and none has done so so far. There are alternative routes (toxicological applications or temporary national authorizations), but the industry considers them too slow and expensive to avoid an interim shortage. Solutions and limits. In practice, there are three exits: a rapid amendment at EU level to include hafnium and zirconium on the list, temporary national authorizations to sustain production while the European assessment is processed, and accelerated toxicological assessment procedures required by the Commission. Each option has its costs and trade-offs: the amendment requires political will and speed in Brussels, the national route can fragment the market and raise costs, and rapid scientific processes must preserve security without becoming an excuse for indefinite delays. In other words, none of the three are perfect, but inaction is possibly the worst alternative. What is at stake. If you also want, the problem is not only domestic or purely technical: it touches on the European ambition of decarbonize heating through heat pumps and electrical appliances. If the regulations induce manufacturers to abandon investments or produce outside the EU due to lack of certainty, the European energy transition would lose momentum and industrial sovereignty. Likewise, the error regulates a greater tension: how to make legitimate health standards compatible with the need to maintain strategic industrial chains and the competitiveness of the European productive fabric. Quick and coordinated correction. I remembered the medium in his report that the solution that best preserves public and private interests involves an expeditious correction in a community key accompanied by scientific safeguards: provisionally authorize use with technical conditions (traceability of supply, quality controls and periodic reviews), accelerate toxicological evaluations and, above all, establish a preventive mechanism for the Commission to integrate the voice of the industry in the technical lists when the standards touch critical industrial processes. Without this coordination, the regulatory shortcut not only aims to cause a equipment cost increase and job losses, but will send the wrong signal to investors considering returning production to Europe. That’s without taking into account the topic nuclearbecause the delay is not only technical, but tangible: it is the difference between a hot shower and a useless radiator. Image | Pixnio, PXHere In Xataka | We are the third country that takes the most showers in Europe. There are scientists trying to find out if this is good news In Xataka | There are people who want to change your life thanks to a cold shower: what science says

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