The existence of groundwater under La Geria has been the focus of much of the Stratvs case trial this Tuesday, as this data is of particular importance in relation to one of the crimes being judged against the environment, due to the polluting spills emitted by the winery. During the session, Dr. Carlos Soler testified as an expert, as he has been investigating the existence of a large aquifer under Timanfaya for years, and has confirmed that in that investigation they have confirmed the existence of at least two springs in the area of the Barranco del Obispo, where Stratvs is located, which are still active today.
"The fact that there is a spring shows that there is an aquifer. There cannot be a spring without an aquifer", the expert pointed out, who worked as a technician for the Government of the Canary Islands for four decades, including as Head of Planning, Studies and Hydrology in the General Directorate of Water, and has "forty years of experience in hydraulic works and studies".
For his part, Juan Francisco Rosa has also provided an expert who testified this Tuesday to deny the existence of groundwater under Stratvs. "I am a speleologist and trail technician," Miguel Caballero said when asked about his professional qualifications. "Is a speleologist the one who studies caves?" the lawyer for the popular prosecution, exercised by Urban Transparency, asked him to determine the expert's ability to issue a report on groundwater.
"But what is your academic background? Do you have a university degree in the subject?" the lawyer insisted, after hearing the expert's brief "yes". "Actually my academic background... First of some careers. I was a bad student," he said, thus confirming that he has no university degree and that his knowledge is self-taught. "Practically all my professional experience is the study... it is based on bibliography and field work," added the expert, who has worked as an adventure sports guide inside caves on the island. After his answer, neither the lawyer for the prosecution nor the prosecutor asked him questions, although Rosa's lawyer and those of other defendants had done so before.
From "practically non-existent" to more than 90 inventoried sources
In his brief intervention, Miguel Caballero confirmed that he carried out a report "to assess the water capacities of La Geria" and determine "if there were aquifers" and "assess the sources". To do this, he stated that he reviewed "all the studies" that he "could", "from the Cabildo and the Water Consortium", and that he carried out "field work".
"Water resources are practically non-existent", "the sources have always been testimonial. They did not normally provide enough to supply a family," he declared, stating in response to questions from the defense that if there was fresh water in Lanzarote "desalination plants would not be necessary" and that he is not aware that fresh water is used on the island or that there are studies that confirm its existence.
However, the study carried out by Soler on behalf of the Water Consortium has inventoried two active springs only in the area of the Barranco del Obispo, and 91 in total in the entire area they have analyzed. He has even explained that the owner of the land where one of them is located, a few meters from Stratvs, has a deposit to collect the water from the spring, and that they have even been able to visit it. "They are there, you can see them," he stressed.
The eruption buried the ravine and the water now runs underground
For his part, Rosa's expert, who in his intervention even cited texts published in the 19th century, argued that "the possible water network" in the area "was buried by the eruptions of 1700".
In this regard, expert Carlos Soler, who has a Doctorate in Civil Engineering, Channels and Ports, and has already made other water findings in La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma, explained that precisely those eruptions were key to transforming not only the landscape of La Geria, but also the subsoil and the waters that run through it.
In the case of the Barranco del Obispo, he explained that it was actually a ravine until 1730, but the volcanic eruption filled that cavity that existed between the two mountains. For this reason, he explained, the water stopped running on the surface and since then it has all infiltrated into the ground and has started to run underneath.
For this, he pointed out that the rofe resulting from these eruptions plays a fundamental role, as it maintains humidity and prevents evaporation. In fact, his report on the existence of a large aquifer under Timanfaya is based on this, since he maintains that until now the particularity of the island's terrain had not been taken into account, and percentages were applied to the amount of rainwater that infiltrates into the terrain that are valid in other territories, but not on the island.
Danger of contaminating the island's "water reserve"
"The water circulates through the old terrain, through what was previously the surface (that is, under the layer of rofe), but from there it also continues to descend," he detailed, also warning of the danger posed by polluting spills in that area.
In this regard, he has argued that the island has a huge water reserve in Timanfaya and that the spills in La Geria, depending on their quantity and "poor quality", can contaminate it. Regarding the amount of water that would be in that reserve, he specified that with the studies carried out so far they have already been able to estimate a figure. "It would represent the entire water supply of the island for a year," he stressed.
Regarding his study, he stressed that it was commissioned by the Cabildo, through the Insular Water Consortium, and recalled that there was also a unanimous agreement from the Parliament of the Canary Islands, urging to investigate the existence of this aquifer. In addition, he explained that for the moment two preliminary studies have already been carried out, with which they have confirmed the existence of the aquifer, and that now it is necessary to carry out geophysical tests and soundings to determine the quality of the water.
The Cabildo has "assumed" the conclusions of this report
In response to questions from Rosa's lawyer questioning the conclusions of his report, Soler explained that it is the first one carried out with a "practical study", taking measurements in the area to be able to determine the amount of water that actually infiltrates.
In addition, he pointed out that the Cabildo has already "assumed" the conclusions of this report, which concludes that there is not only one aquifer on the island, but two: one in the Volcán de la Corona and another in Timanfaya, because they are "the areas with the greatest permeability".
During the statement of this expert, the defenses have referred to the document that they have most questioned throughout the trial, the Insular Plan, pointing out that it does not include the existence of this aquifer. However, the plan to which they have most clung to defend the alleged legality of Stratvs, the La Geria Plan, did speak of it. "I have been saying this about the Timanfaya aquifer since 1990. And I thought I was alone, but the La Geria Special Plan also says so," Soler stressed, who insisted that it is "normal and natural" that this is the case", because it is "a permeable soil".
Years without investigating these indications
The problem, as Soler warned more than three years ago, when he presented the conclusions of a first report, is that until now it had not been studied. That report was commissioned by the previous Podemos group in the Cabildo, and after publicly presenting the conclusions, motions were taken to both the Cabildo and the Parliament of the Canary Islands so that the administration would continue the complementary studies that would determine the quantity and quality of the water, for its possible use.
Finally, based on these agreements, the Cabildo ended up commissioning a first complementary study at the end of the last term -with the inventory of springs, sources and cisterns-, which is the one that was later contributed to the Stratvs case, at the request of the popular accusation, and the one that has led Soler to testify as an expert in the trial. "This report was not commissioned by Urban Transparency, right? We have no professional link?" the lawyer asked, thus highlighting the difference with the expert witnesses provided by Rosa's defense. "They are official commissions carried out by the Cabildo through the Consortium," Soler responded.
"Wasn't this started by the Podemos political group?" questioned the lawyer of the former manager of the Insular Water Council, José Juan Hernández Duchemín. "That was earlier," the expert began to respond, before the magistrate presiding over the Chamber, Emilio Moya, intervened, considering the question inadmissible.
