Breaking the silence ceiling: how gender violence became into a social problem in Spain through media and politics

This research presents the explanatory model of the process of reconstruction of the ʺsocial problemʺ of Intimate Partner Violence (I.P.V) in Spain during last five years, with special attention to the role of media in this process. Using a content analysis of the three more diffused general newspapers, a content analysis of the minutes of the Parliament, and the statistics of the police reports and murders, from January of 1997 to December of 2001, it observes the relationship between the evolution of the incidence of Intimate Partner Violence (I.P.V) (measured by the number of deaths and the number of police reports) and the evolution of stories about this topic in press. It also studies the interconnection of the two previous variables with the political answer to the problem (measured by the interventions on the I.P.V. in the Senate and in the Congress). Data shows that, even though police reports have increased due to the contribution of politics and media, I.P.V murders keep on growing up.

Brackish groundwater desalination by reverse osmosis in southeastern Spain. Presence of emerging contaminants and potential impacts on soil-aquifer media

Desalinated brackish groundwater is becoming a new source of water supply to comply with growing water demands, especially in (semi-) arid countries. Recent publications show that some chemical compounds may persist in an unaltered form after the desalination processes and that there is an associated risk of mixing waters with different salinity for irrigation. At the university of Alicante campus (Spain), a mix of desalinated brackish groundwater and water from the existing aquifer is currently applied for landscape irrigation. The presence of 209 emerging compounds, surfactants, priority substances according to the 2008/105/EC Directive, 11 heavy metals and microbiological organisms in blended water and aquifer samples was investigated. Thirty-five compounds were detected (pesticides, pharmaceuticals and surfactants) among them two priority substances α-endosulfan and Ni were found above the permitted maximum concentration. Blended water used for landscape irrigation during the summer period is supersaturated with respect to carbonates, which may ultimately lead to mineral precipitation in the soil-aquifer media and changes in hydraulic parameters.