La Graciosa was without running water for a large part of the August bank holiday, which generated scenes such as the one shown on social media by PP councillor, Nieves Arrocha, when she opened the bathroom tap and not a drop came out.
“This is not something new in La Graciosa, and we have denounced it on several occasions”, Arrocha herself pointed out on Radio Lanzarote – Onda Cero. The councillor detailed that they were “without water since Thursday”. “On Sunday there was still no water in my house, and on Monday at around 9 in the morning the water came, but it came with so little intensity that it took me two hours to fill a five-litre bottle”, she adds.
The councillor denounces that, in addition to the continuous supply cuts, when it is restored it does so “with very little pressure”, so there is not enough time for the cisterns in the houses to fill up.
“As a resident, I am outraged, because you see yourself having to fill bottles to foresee how long the water lasts and how long it doesn't, because if you give water but not pressure, then the cisterns don't fill up either”, says the councillor.
Nieves Arrocha assures that the main problem is in the network of pipes on the eighth island, which, being very old, are susceptible to continuous breakdowns. “50 years have passed, and we have changed the economic model, going from living off fishing to living off tourism, and we have about 3,000 people a day coming to spend the day or stay”, points out the councillor, who therefore demands that, given the situation, “we will have to invest in infrastructure”.
The Popular Party representative is calling for an “urgent” meeting between those involved in the problem, referring to the Island Water Consortium and Canal Gestión Lanzarote. “What we cannot do is become so politicised that we are not able to sit down at a table on such a basic problem as residents of the island opening the tap and not having water”, she denounces.
“Canal Gestión will have to review the contract and see what is failing, but we always hear the Water Consortium say that it is Canal Gestión's fault, and they say that the Cabildo does not inform them. We have been like this for years and the resident is still without water. That is the key, to sit down to work and it doesn't matter who we have in front of us”, she adds.
The La Graciosa Clinic, one of those affected by the supply cut
The two-day water cut also affected the La Graciosa Clinic, as confirmed by the councillor delegate on the island, Alicia Páez, in statements to La Voz. “They called me because they had empty tanks, and we had to take steps to get the water back, because logically they can't be without it”, says Páez, who assures that this Monday they already had a supply.
Likewise, the councillor from La Graciosa has assured that the water supply problem is not an isolated event, but occurs frequently, and as the PP councillor points out, it is accentuated in the “summer seasons”, when the island is home to a greater number of people.
“This is not new, it has been happening for years. I have requested that investment be made in La Graciosa, and I also asked the Island Water Consortium for it in writing”, points out Alicia Páez, who assures that she has “not been answered” by the institution.
Alicia Páez affirms that when the investments in infrastructure planned in water were announced, none of them were for the eighth island. “I asked: What about La Graciosa? They replied that they were considering a possible desalination plant, but the solution has to be found now, because we are experiencing it year after year”, adds the councillor.
“We have to improve the network and the existing pumps. And the fundamental problem is in the power of the pumps”, says Páez, who also assures that the town of Pedro Barba suffers even more from the precarious water situation.
To this she adds that there is a pipe that was bought for La Graciosa and that has not been installed. “It has been bought for several years, and is in the open at Canal Gestión”, denounces the councillor, who believes that its installation would improve the water pressure on the island.
“The entire network is obsolete, and especially the supply network, which is in a deplorable state, and this is the situation we have in La Graciosa, which will be repeated on numerous occasions”, warns Alicia Páez.
