According to the data provided by the water balance of Lanzarote and La Graciosa at the end of 2022, Lanzarote continues to lose a significant amount of drinking water on its way from the desalination plants to homes. The latest indicator shows that during the past year almost 15.8 million m³ have been lost through distribution networks, 56.42% of total production. Compared to the data from 2021, when the non-revenue water (NRW) stood at 61.38%, it seems that there has been a reduction in the level of losses. However, this reduction is “not real” as it is distorted by the alteration that consumption suffered as a result of the pandemic situation.
The explanation for this “supposed” slight decrease lies in the increase in drinking water consumption by the population of Lanzarote during 2022, going from almost 10.5 million m³ in 2021 to 12.3 million m³ in this past year. In other words, the impact of the pandemic and all its consequences had a direct impact on drinking water consumption "as expected". And it is that during 2020 and 2021 consumption decreased significantly (11.1 million m³ and 10.5 million m³, respectively) and this had a sudden impact on the NRW (index directly related to billed and unbilled water) which registered an increase of more than 15% in two years.
That extraordinary situation experienced in those two years means that the reality of the NRW in 2022 must be compared with 2019. Therefore, the valid data places the worsening of this ratio at more than 3 points, thus coinciding with the upward trend marked from 2018 when the renovations of the 200 km of networks carried out by Canal Gestión Lanzarote within its contractual commitments ended. It must be remembered that División de Comunicación comunicacion@canalgestionlanzarote.es 626 855 386 Carretera Arrecife - Las Caletas, Km 3,5 Arrecife 35500, Lanzarote www.canalgestionlanzarote.es Lanzarote still has 1,300 kilometers of pipes with more than 30 years of useful life that have not been subject to any renovation and that, obviously, suffer more incidents and breakages every day with the corresponding loss of water that this entails.
In fact, the year 2022 closes with the record of 10,835 breakages that were repaired by Canal Gestión Lanzarote, about four hundred more than in 2021; and with more than 2,600 leaks located by the company itself.
Water balance data
In objective production and consumption data, the water balance shows that last year the four plants managed by Canal Gestión Lanzarote produced a total of 28,172,408 m³. Of this production, the 74,914 subscribers to the service consumed 12,277,171 m³, drinking water billed through meters and the sale of tanks.
46.26% of consumption corresponds to the domestic service, and just over 42% to the industrial and tourist sectors. The rest is divided between agricultural, livestock and corporate consumption. On the other hand, the municipalities of Tías, Arrecife and Teguise, in that order, are the ones that registered the highest consumption in 2022, exceeding 2 million m³ in all three cases. In terms of consumption ratios, they are followed by Yaiza, San Bartolomé, Haría and Tinajo.
By months, the months with the highest consumption were November and May, followed by the interval between July and October.
Reused water balance
On the other hand, the water balance of reused water, that which is treated in treatment plants for a second use mainly for the irrigation of gardens and plantations, shows a production in 2022 of 3,749,155 m³, with a consumption of just over 2 million m³.
