The Citizen Water Board has asked the Minister of Water of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas, that "if he cannot or is not capable" of solving the water problem on the island "to give way to other people and leave". This was stated in a press release issued this Thursday.
At the same time, it has questioned Cejas' statements in which he warned that "it cannot be resolved" and have indicated that "he is collecting a salary from taxpayers to solve the problems that have been entrusted to him." In this line, he has urged the public officials of the Insular Water Consortium, composed of the Cabildo and the seven town councils, to find "the magic wand" to guarantee the supply to the population.
"We remind the political managers that water is a right and that implies that its access should be guaranteed," they stressed.
The Citizen Water Board has been "surprised" and admits "not understanding the statements" of the Minister of Water and Transport of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas, regarding the cuts in the water supply and the situation of the integral cycle on the island.
The councilor says "that there is no water to supply the population", but "the water balance for 2023 published by Canal Gestión on March 6 says that the production of drinking water was 29,487,726 cubic meters, 4.67% more than in 2022." The Citizen Water Board has questioned that if production was increased, even stopping a frame with a capacity of 10,000 m3, "the problem is not water production."
This citizen association has added that "we do not understand the councilor when he says that he does not have a magic wand. It seems like a phrase that mixes sorrow with cynicism."
In this sense, they have recalled that "the privatization of the integral water cycle was going to be the magic wand for all water problems but it turns out that this wand has not worked." Thus, he added that "the last magic wand was the Action Plan for Supply, which included the hiring of two mobile plants from La Palma, it has not worked either, meanwhile, this bad management and political irresponsibility is being paid by the users of the service."
Regarding the works on the network announced by the Cabildo of Lanzarote to guarantee the service, Domingo Cejas has assured that "if the Water Consortium understands that the network needs to be renovated in some municipalities, then let it be done, let's work to achieve it." In addition, he has criticized that "to make new roads, hotels, rallies and parties there is always money, because there must also be money to guarantee the water supply on the island, which is much more important for everyone."
They have also reproached Cejas' refusal to declare a water emergency in Lanzarote. "From the Citizen Water Board we believe that a water emergency has not been declared, because this would be recognizing an island saturated that has exceeded its carrying capacity, it would be recognizing the failure in the private management of the island's water resources is inadequate, it would be recognizing that investments in infrastructure to alleviate the water emergency are charged to the budgets of the Government of the Canary Islands but we do not want to bother," he continued.
The Citizen Water Board has demanded that the Cabildo and the town councils of the island "immediate solutions to these continuous cuts and that the water supply is ensured."
Finally, it has demanded that the Insular Water Consortium "rigorously supervise the concessionaire company in case it is breaching the contract for the award of the service, because perhaps, Canal Gestión should change some pipes in the network due to its poor management in the maintenance of the same; and it is not doing so, and demand, above all, the improvement of the management of the service."
