Last weekend the town of San Bartolomé was without water for two days, and the reason was the breakage of a Canal Gestión pipe near Montaña Mina, which transports the water supply to the municipality. However, the problem was that this pipe passes through a private property, and the owner is in litigation with Canal Gestión for the company to compensate him for the damages caused. Fortunately, the water supply to the municipality was restored on Sunday.
"The owner only asks that the property be left as it was," says the mayor of San Bartolomé, Isidro Pérez, on Radio Lanzarote – Onda Cero. And there were people who contacted La Voz blaming the owner of that property, as they claimed that he was preventing Canal Gestión from entering his property to repair the fault.
"The neighbor has never prevented Canal Gestión from entering. What he says is that they enter, look and assure him that they are going to compensate him," clarifies the mayor of San Bartolomé. In addition, Pérez empathizes with the affected party: "I understand the neighbor perfectly, he can't say I plant or I don't plant to see if the pipe breaks."
"We have always been with the neighbor, understanding that Canal Gestión must repair in the conditions and compensate in relation to what he has planted," says Isidro Pérez, who adds that there is a litigation between the owner and Canal Gestión.
And it has not been an isolated case, but there have been several times that this pipe has broken near the property and has caused damage. "This pipe has broken several times on this property, it is a quite old pipe," says the mayor of San Bartolomé, who adds that it is necessary to "make significant investments" in the water pipes in the municipality.
The mayor of San Bartolomé also spoke over the weekend with the manager of Canal Gestión Lanzarote, as well as with the Minister of Water of the Cabildo, Andrés Stinga, to discuss possible solutions and investments to improve the municipality's pipe network.