The 45 illegal desalination plants operating in Lanzarote prevent Inalsa from earning more than five million euros. Despite the fact that the Island Planning Ordinance of Lanzarote (PIO) does not allow water production on the Island to be in private hands, desalination plants continue to operate in tourist complexes in Lanzarote that are outside the law and represent an approximate loss of income to the public water company of one million per year plus four million for the connection.
These desalination plants do not pay Inalsa despite using the public sanitation network. According to the 1991 PIO, private desalination is only allowed if the general water system cannot supply the area. Currently the network reaches all points of the Island except the Montaña Roja partial plan, in Playa Blanca, which has not been received by the Yaiza City Council.
Both the arrival of the network and the guarantees of supply due to the level of production reached by Inalsa are currently in place. However, according to a field study carried out by Inalsa and the Island Water Council, there are 45 desalination plants operating, 15 in Costa Teguise, 21 in Playa Blanca and the rest in Puerto del Carmen and other locations. Almost all are in hotels and apartment complexes.
More than 24,000 beds
More than 10,000 rooms and 24,000 tourist beds in these hotels are not connected to the network. If a minimum cost of 1.60 euros per bed and month in water consumption and 1.80 euros per bed and month of sanitation is calculated, the result is almost one million euros per year. In addition, each hotel room should pay 360 euros for connecting to the public network, which would mean an income for Inalsa of about four million.
The water production capacity of these plants is approximately 1.7 million cubic meters per year. The sale of all that amount of water would be close to three million cubic meters Inalsa. On the other hand, it has sufficient capacity to produce that amount of water and distribute it to the hotels.
Inalsa is judicially administered due to a debt that exceeds 40 million euros. To alleviate the economic cost of the company, the administrators and the works council agreed on an employment regulation file that affects 35 workers, with which they intend to save more than two million euros.
Last week, the Cabildo announced that, by order of the administrators, they were going to intensify the presentation before the courts of justice of the corresponding claims for the collection of amounts owed for unpaid invoices from subscribers, as well as fraud for illegal connections or manipulations to the distribution networks of the public water company. However, no reference was made to these illegal desalination plants.
ACN Press