The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, announced on Tuesday morning that he will propose to the plenary of the Island State of the Cabildo the convenience of declaring a water emergency in Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
“Until now, the circumstances for such a declaration were not present because we did not have projects that could be executed during the duration of the Emergency Declaration. We have been working like ants to draft those projects that will allow us to expedite the procedures for the awarding of the works,” Betancort argued.
The president has proposed to the plenary of the Cabildo of Lanzarote the convenience of urging the Assembly of the Consortium to promote the request for a declaration of water emergency in Lanzarote and La Graciosa to the Island Water Council, which is the competent entity for its declaration.
The water emergency, according to Oswaldo Betancort, “will allow us to access extraordinary sources of financing to definitively achieve the expansion of the production of the Díaz Rijo Desalination Plant by 20,000 cubic meters/day, with a budget of around nine million euros, which, according to the technicians, may be the difference between having water cuts or not having them, or minimizing them significantly.”
“We currently have updated projects for an amount close to 46 million euros, of which almost 24 million are projected in supply works, another 19 in sanitation and around 1.5 million in the shock plan,” the president of the Cabildo highlighted in his speech.
The announcement by the president of the Cabildo will be taken to the Island State Debate this Wednesday as a proposed resolution by the government group formed by the Canarian Coalition and the Popular Party.
A proposal in which it will be manifest that the situation of water scarcity, evidenced by the intermittent shortage of the population, "advises the protection of a regulatory framework that favors the development and implementation of hydraulic infrastructure projects that allow reversing the situation, so it is convenient at this time to resort to the umbrella of the normative figure of the declaration of water emergency".
Projects for renovation and improvement of the distribution network
Among them, Betancort highlighted the renovation and improvement of the distribution network of the Arrecife-West Zone with an investment of 13 million euros with funds from the FDCAN and “pending municipal authorization.”
He also highlighted the execution of the renovation of the Lanzarote-La Graciosa supply network (Red Guatifay-La Graciosa), endowed with 3 million euros. “A project that is currently pending authorization from the Coasts of the Central Government and the environmental impact report from the Government of the Canary Islands.”
Within this section of renovation and improvement of the distribution network are also works with authorized projects or in the process of municipal authorization such as the Arrecife East Zone for more than four million euros, the town of Ye with a budget of 1.9 million euros, Tabayesco with 1.9 million euros, Guinate with more than 600,000 euros, Los Valles with four million and the Tinajo Zone with five million euros.
In line with actions to tackle breakdowns in water distribution pipes, the president highlighted that important interventions have been carried out, renovating the pipes of streets in Playa Honda: Mástil, Princesa Ico and San Borondón; in Tahiche: Eduardo Pondal and Rafael Alberti; and in Arrecife: Sabin de Berteloth; and immediately planned are Vizcaya street in Arrecife and Emilio Zapata and Garcilaso de la Vega in Teguise. Or the bougainvillea street in Costa Teguise, “so demanded, which is already being executed with a budget of over 500,000 euros.”
“We also have, according to the president, a leak detection project, for an amount close to 900,000 euros. We know where the streets with the most breakdowns are, but those breakdowns represent a very small percentage in water losses, less than 10 percent, there is another 90% that remains in the subsoil and we do not know where the water is lost. It is a fundamental project that we will proceed to award immediately,” concluded the president of the Cabildo.
