The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, has demanded that the Lanzarote Water Consortium immediately replace the wastewater pumping network that carries sewage to the Montaña Mina treatment plant and runs underground through several streets of Argana Alta.
As La Voz already published, the latest breakdown occurred around 00:15 hours this Thursday, July 23, at the intersection of Tajaraste and Campoamor streets. According to the Local Police report, the pipe rupture caused flooding in several homes and businesses with sewage, as well as opening a large hole in the road, which forced the area to be cordoned off. Furthermore, the Local Police drew up a report for the sewage spills that flooded the streets, homes, and some businesses.
The City Council maintains that this is a new rupture of an infrastructure whose replacement has been demanded from the Water Consortium for some time.
Following this new incident, the mayor has requested that the Consortium proceed with the relocation of the affected families and that a comprehensive cleaning of the area be carried out as quickly as possible, as both buildings and commercial establishments were affected by the entry of sewage after the breakdown of the pumping network. The City Council reminds that the integral water cycle in Lanzarote is the responsibility of the Water Consortium.
The municipal corporation also points out that a meeting was held at the City Hall on March 2nd with the councilor of the Water Consortium, Domingo Cejas, and the then heads of Canal Gestión, in which the installation of a new pipe that would not run through the streets of Argana was requested. According to the municipal statement, that proposal was subsequently accepted by the General Assembly of the Consortium, held in March of last year.
The City Council assures that, at that meeting, the mayor had already warned of the obsolete state of the current pumping network, responsible for transporting wastewater to the Montaña Mina treatment plant. According to the City Council, the infrastructure has registered multiple breakdowns and has had eight ruptures in recent months, including the one that occurred early this morning, which have caused sewage spills in the public thoroughfare. On this occasion, it adds, the water even entered homes and businesses.
Likewise, the City Council maintains that this pumping network, built of fiber, has shown significant deterioration for years and recalls that, since last June, Canal Gestión is no longer the concessionaire company of this infrastructure.
Finally, the City Council requests the president of the Water Consortium, Oswaldo Betancort, that the replacement of the pipe be carried out by emergency procedure, under the protection of the water emergency situation declared in Lanzarote and extended by the Insular Water Council.