The water management of Lanzarote is one of the biggest problems and challenges facing the island today. The Citizen Water Board of Lanzarote has issued a statement this Wednesday morning in which it has highlighted that the data offered by the Data Center of the Cabildo of Lanzarote "offer a chilling situation" and in which it has stated that the tourist locations are free from supply cuts.
Among the data collected by the platform, "currently approximately 30 million cubic meters are produced per year, of which only just over 13 million are consumed."
Of the 13 million of water consumed, "almost six million are made in tourist areas, an amount very similar to that of residential areas (approximately 45%)." Meanwhile, agricultural water barely reaches 6% with an annual consumption of 800 thousand cubic meters per year.
Likewise, they have indicated that between the months of May and September of this year (153 days), there were 97 days of water cuts on the island, "with locations with more days of cuts than days with water supply." The Citizen Water Board has added that "analyzing the affected locations, it can be seen how all the cuts were made in rural areas and none in tourist areas."
"Despite these alarming data, Canal Gestión Lanzarote, has issued press releases this year in which it values how in 2023 the production of water rose a little more than 4%. But is it really something to be proud of the management carried out?", it has continued.
Analyzing these data in a little more detail, the Citizen Water Board of Lanzarote has drawn the following conclusions:
- Every year Lanzarote, an island with an acute lack of water, throws away almost 17 million cubic meters, an amount of water that it produces but does not take advantage of.
- If we take into account that the average price of water is around 1.75 euros per cubic meter, "we are talking about this loss of water representing in economic figures, more than 28 million euros per year that are not collected."
- To this figure we would have to add the cost of production. Knowing that the energy consumption used in the total desalination is approximately 92 million KWH, and that of which about 50 million KWH would be necessary to produce those 17 million cubic meters of water that are not used, at an average price of €0.11 per KWH, the annual losses would be more than 5 million euros per year.
The impact of water management on the environment
Thus, they have continued adding that "the losses of this terrible management are not only economic. If we stop to analyze the environmental impact, the data are no better." For example, the desalination of all the water on the island of Lanzarote represents almost 40 million KG CO2. "Taking into account that of these figures only 44% is used, we come to the conclusion that this Biosphere Reserve where we live, annually releases into the atmosphere unjustifiably due to poor management, about 21 million kilograms of carbon dioxide, to which we would have to add the negative impact on the seabed not only of the uncontrolled discharges of sewage that are being carried out, but also of the brine that is generated in the desalination process."
In conclusion, the current private management of water on the island of Lanzarote is causing the annual loss (between what is invested without return and what is not collected) "of more than 30 million euros per year", as well as "the irresponsible release of more than 21 million kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, in addition to numerous uncontrolled discharges to our coasts. All this, to permanently suffer water cuts that are selective and that always affect the same: rural areas, and meanwhile the Cabildo is neither there nor is it expected."
The Citizen Water Board has pointed out that "politics, despite being masked by beautiful and patriotic stories, materializes in decision-making, and in this matter it is clear." Despite the numerous speeches of support for the primary sector, of the great gastronomic fairs that are held "to supposedly make the local product visible, despite filling the airports and international tourism fairs with images of La Geria, the truth is that the current political class with its decision-making is saying, among other things, that it prefers to see full swimming pools rather than sown and cultivated fields; while the wheel of tourism continues to turn, our ruling class does not seem to worry."
For all this, the Citizen Water Board of Lanzarote, has understood that the current model of private water management, in the hands of Canal Gestión, "does not meet the needs of the population of this island nor the guidelines on climate change." We understand that the Cabildo of Lanzarote should demand at least and as a first immediate measure, that Canal Gestión carry out a planning of the water cuts, where those affected were not always the rural areas, but that these cuts were distributed proportionally and balanced so as not to leave our countryside without water in the months when it needs it most.
Likewise, the Citizen Water Board has stated that "given the inefficiency of private management and the inability shown by both the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Consortium", it is necessary "to open an open process of reflection with all the agents involved, to address a change of course where water management is under public control and subject to an annual audit, not only of efficiency levels but also of its environmental impact. Lanzarote and its countryside need water and we can no longer wait."