They denounce that "farmers in Tinajo and Teguise have been waiting 15 years for a desalination plant"

The professional agrarian organization Palca-La Unión has denounced that "the farmers of Tinajo and Teguise have been waiting for 15 years for a desalination plant to irrigate their farms", which had been promised since 2005.

In a statement, they state that the central government presided over by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero approved Royal Decree Law 10/2005 of June 20 "with the aim of undertaking, as a matter of urgency, measures aimed at alleviating the effects that the drought was causing in many places in the country."

According to Palca-La Unión, among the actions planned in the aforementioned decree, "the modernization and improvement of irrigation in the northeast area of ​​the island was projected for Lanzarote, as a work of general interest, covering mainly cultivated land in the municipality of Tinajo, as well as some agricultural farms located in the surroundings of the Caldera del Cuchillo, but belonging to the jurisdiction of Teguise."

However, they state that it was in 2015, ten years after the measure planned for Lanzarote was announced, when the project was drafted at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of the Canary Islands with a budget of more than nine million euros. "Good thing it was urgent," they add.

Project details

 This project, whose ownership they claim is held by the Lanzarote Water Consortium, contemplates "the design of a seawater desalination plant by reverse osmosis with a maximum production capacity of 36,000 cubic meters/day, to be built on the plot of the wastewater treatment plant (E.D.A.R.) of La Santa." The plant, they detail, would operate "by means of a wind turbine with a power of 1000 KW."

They also point out that the installation is planned to have two tanks, the first to be located in the Montaña Caldera del Cuchillo and the second to be built semi-buried in the Montaña Tinache, "with the aim of irrigating the largest possible agricultural area by gravity."

In addition, they state that "a submarine outfall is contemplated for the rejection with its discharge point 500 meters from the coast of La Santa."
 
 

"Not even the first stone has been laid"

"We are facing a project that is not only exciting but also tremendously necessary as a result of the drought suffered on the island in recent years, since its implementation would regularly provide water to a large area of ​​cultivated land," says Palca-La Unión, which states that "Canal Gestión has been supplying water to farmers in the Caldera de Cuchillo for only one day a week for years." "In these conditions, many will wonder: what agricultural production can be achieved like this? or what young person risks starting in agriculture," adds the agricultural organization.

However, with respect to the desalination plant project, it states that "the reality is that to date, not even the first stone has been laid, as they say." "The situation that is suffered on this island - every time a public work begins - is that we stumble upon obstacles and more obstacles (sometimes administrative and sometimes political), which end up paralyzing and making any project unenforceable," they indicate from Palca-La Unión.

In this regard, they detail a series of "objections" with which they claim the initiative has encountered. "Nothing is known about the file relating to the transfer of land," says the agrarian organization, which also points out that "the collection wells are located in a place that most likely has the subsoil contaminated by the discharge - without much control - for years of the purified waters of the EDAR."

Likewise, they point out that they are unaware of the status of the environmental impact report and point out that allegations have been presented stating that "the wave of La Santa could be affected by the submarine outfall, which would force a change in its layout.

"And, most importantly, there is no financial record," adds Palca-La Unión, which although it believes that "in this situation the most sensible thing after all this time would be to abandon this work and give up the battle as lost," wants to promote the project "even in a last attempt."

And it is that, it considers that it is "essential to give a future option to the agriculture of the island, while allowing us to increase our degree of sovereignty and food security, not to mention that its operation would make it possible to plant more farms, and incidentally guarantee the conservation of our landscape, which is the main tourist attraction of the island."

They consider that it is the "opportune moment" to obtain financing

"In the current situation, where the approval of two programs will take place: one at European level (European Reconstruction Plan) and the other in the field of the islands (Plan for the Social and Economic Reactivation of the Canary Islands) with which it is intended to address the serious economic consequences derived from the coronavirus crisis, it would be the opportune moment to obtain the necessary financing as the construction of desalination plants is contemplated within the lines of aid included in said plans," considers the agrarian organization.

"We cannot afford to be late for this new opportunity that presents itself if we want to reactivate the primary sector of Lanzarote. We must be aware that the other islands, with more and better water, are projecting desalination plants for agriculture as a way to combat the effects of drought," concludes Palca-La Unión, pointing out that "in Tenerife and Gran Canaria there are already some publicly owned ones that have been producing very good quality water for agriculture."