The two mobile desalination plants, from La Palma, have arrived in Lanzarote this Monday in order to mitigate the water crisis that the island has been suffering for months and has worsened in summer.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, has thanked the Government of the Canary Islands for its response and points out that “administrative collaboration is of vital importance to solve the water crisis that the Island is experiencing. The Action Plan that we have approved details the situation of the Integral Water Cycle, the needs we have in terms of financing, and the actions that will be initiated with the urgent shock plan.”
The desalination plants that will be installed in the Díaz Rijo Desalination Center, in Punta de Los Vientos, will be put into operation once the agreement between the Cabildo and the Government of the Canary Islands is signed, and will produce 5,000 cubic meters per day. This will be able to cover part of the shortage in the production of drinking water after the breakage of one of the racks in the Lanzarote III treatment plant during the past month of July.
The provision of the two desalination plants, which have not cost the Cabildo anything, was agreed after the visit to Lanzarote last August by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Miranda. The Minister valued “very positively the arrival of these two desalination plants to the Island of Lanzarote. They come from solving important problems in La Palma after the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano and the objective now is to mitigate the water shortage in Lanzarote and La Graciosa with the injection of about 5,000m3/day additional to the water network of Lanzarote”.
The Councilor for Water of the Cabildo, Domingo Cejas, has pointed out in this regard that “an important step is being taken to improve water production, but at the same time we are working to proceed as soon as possible to repair the pipes of the 38 streets of the island that have the highest percentage of losses”.
The Cabildo of Lanzarote plans to allocate more than 90 million euros to undertake the Water Action Plan 2023-2027, presented at the beginning of August and which contemplates the renovation of the hydraulic infrastructures of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
