The Citizen Water Board of Lanzarote has issued a press release on the morning of this Wednesday to publicly reject the invitation of the Councilor for Water of the Island Council of Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas, to meet with them this past Tuesday 26 and this Wednesday, November 27. "Cejas invited the Citizen Water Board to hold a meeting at the headquarters of the Island Council [...] to present our proposals since, according to him, he had not received any, to be able to discuss them and deliver the report issued by the manager of the Consortium on the water emergency situation".
The Water Board has pointed out that "this invitation is made after we have made public a statement on the 19th denouncing the disaster of the management in the integral cycle of water that we residents of Lanzarote and La Graciosa are suffering".
The citizens of this platform have pointed out that although they appreciate the invitation of the councilor, they believe that "it is not the appropriate approach. This is not a question between the councilor of water of the Island Council and some concerned citizens who have decided to organize themselves to publicly point out the difficulties with the water shortage. This crisis fully impacts all residents of Lanzarote and La Graciosa".
Thus, from the Water Board they have pointed out that "the problems that are causing the disastrous management of the service of a good as essential as water, is negatively impacting our daily life and the economy of many affected, therefore, it is a serious problem and must be treated with seriousness, depth, responsibility, high-mindedness and be open to the different suggestions that may come from civil society. Do not forget that the public water heritage of the island belongs to all of us".
In this sense, they have highlighted that "the model of privatized and mercantilist management has collapsed, its failure is evident". Therefore, they have added that "we have to urgently move towards overcoming this model. As a previous and transitional step, we have proposed in our last statement, to open a reflection process with all the agents involved to address a new model change, where the management of water is under public control and subject to citizen oversight, not only of efficiency levels, but also on its environmental impact".
The Citizen Water Board has invited the Councilor for Water to create "a space for citizen participation and exchange of information, promoting the necessary consensus, in which issues of interest related to the model to follow will be debated democratically, if so, count on our participation". In addition, he added that "this initiative would avoid the useless duel in the sun that he is proposing, between you and the Water Board"
Likewise, he added that "the Citizen Water Board is not obliged to present any proposal to any organization of the administration whose management has contributed to the current state of water crisis that we suffer on the island. Until there is an adequate space for participation as we have mentioned above, the citizens who participate in our group have the right to organize ourselves in the way we deem convenient and we will continue to make our proposals, suggestions and criticisms to the management of the integral water cycle voluntarily and selflessly through statements".
In addition, he has indicated that the report issued by the manager of the Consortium on the situation of water emergency "that he wants to give us in hand, should be made public for the interest of the citizens. We want to think that putting the bait of said report was not with the intention of knowing the members of the Citizen Water Board and taking them out of the burrow". At the same time, in which they have indicated that "we are no more important than any other citizen. We would be pleased if you were more interested in our proposals, suggestions and criticisms than in knowing who make up the Citizen Water Board. We only want to contribute to solving the problems, not to creating them".
In this sense, he has indicated "without bitterness", that after "eighteen months of unfulfilled promises and the water crisis worsening every day that passes, those who are obliged to make proposals, to enforce the contract to the concessionaire are you, the Consortium and the Island Council of Lanzarote, since, that is what the citizens voted for and what they charge a public salary for. Those affected by the problem of water shortage that we suffer, we want solutions, not patches".
The Board has pointed out that "we continue to insist that when the Water Emergency is declared, the works that are carried out with money from the public coffers, must be adjusted to the real cases of true emergency because it entails the exemption of the environmental impact assessment procedure, as well as a relaxation of administrative controls, which opens the door to possible corruption, so an abusive use of said declaration favors the realization of actions that may have a great impact or whose technical, environmental and economic efficiency is not guaranteed. Let's hope this is not the case".
Finally, they have recalled that "it was the Island Council and the Water Consortium that were responsible for putting the island in this unprecedented crisis with the privatization of the management of the integral water cycle, leaving in private hands the exploitation of a strategic asset for the island, without the opinion of the population, nor their consent and much less without hearing their proposals that at that time were in the direction of a public management of water, contrary to the mercantilist model that they imposed on us".
