The company responsible for managing the integral water cycle of Lanzarote, Canal Gestión, discharges urban wastewater into the Charco de San Ginés, through three unauthorized outfalls. This is noted in the Census of land discharges into the sea, updated by the Government of the Canary Islands in 2025.
In just over a kilometer and a half, the Charco de San Ginés concentrates three points of wastewater discharges that continue to release dirty water into this lagoon. None of these recorded discharges specify whether the waters receive any prior treatment before being released into the coast.
The first discharge point, located inside the Charco in the area where the whale skeleton is found, releases wastewater through the wall that delineates the space. This discharge comes from the Wastewater Pumping Station (EBAR) Alcorde, which originates from the sewage network and is used in case of "exceedance-emergency," according to the regional government. The point is unauthorized and releases black water into the charco through a drain, located three meters high and utilizing gravity. This spillage occurs over a bathing and leisure area.
The second point is just a few meters from the previous one, in an area within the public maritime-terrestrial domain and next to the bar area. In this case, it is also active and unauthorized, but the wastewater comes from another pumping station, that of Barquillo.
The third discharge occurs in the section of Charco de San Ginés closest to the sea and is another unauthorized discharge within the public maritime-terrestrial domain. In this case, Canal Gestión disposes of urban wastewater from the EBAR Puntilla, and the discharge installation is located in the southwest of the promenade that surrounds the lagoon.
There are numerous criticisms regarding the state of Charco de San Ginés, where this weekend several people reported on social media the foul smell, the presence of wet wipes, and the brown color of the water.
