The Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands Government held a technical meeting on Tuesday morning at the island government headquarters to evaluate and monitor the investments being made in La Graciosa in terms of hydraulic infrastructure.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion, and Water of the Canary Islands Government, Manuel Miranda, the Minister of Water of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas, the General Director of Autonomous Water, Mónica Gómez, the Mayor of Teguise, Olivia Duque, and technicians from the Water Consortium, the Island Water Council, the Cabildo, and the Water Services Area of the Canary Islands Government.
"The El Río pipeline project is finished, but, according to Minister Manuel Miranda, the Government is finalizing the drafting of its biodiversity report and is awaiting the one that the General Directorate of Coast and Sea of the Ministry has to prepare," Domingo Cejas pointed out.
For his part, Manuel Miranda stated that "we are doing a weekly follow-up of the files and we have conveyed the importance of these projects to the Ministry," although he acknowledged that "the work is already delayed and will probably be delayed until the first quarter of 2026 because we cannot award from the Government until the file is complete."
Water supply and sanitation network of La Graciosa
On the other hand, it was reported that the Island Water Council has already finished the water supply network project in Caleta de Sebo and it has been sent to Canal Gestión for a report, with the next step being to request urban planning availability and administrative cooperation from the Teguise City Council to be able to start the process of awarding the work.
Regarding sanitation in La Graciosa, the contract for drafting the project commissioned by the Canary Islands Government to the company José Alcalá Ingenieros will be signed on July 10, with an execution period of seven months.
The Minister of Water of the Canary Islands Government, Manuel Miranda, promised, in this regard, to maintain subsidies to the Teguise City Council for the cleaning of black wells during the time that the execution of this infrastructure is prolonged.
The working day also addressed the status of the projects subsidized by the Canary Islands Government to increase water production in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, within the framework of the water emergency.
Seven million in subsidies
The Minister of Water, Domingo Cejas, informed his counterpart in the Canary Islands Government that the acquisition of reverse osmosis membranes has already been contracted, for an amount of two million euros. "We will sign the contract next Monday and the material, which will allow us to increase water production between 10% and 15%, will arrive in Lanzarote in August. We have obtained twice as many membranes as planned in the specifications for that amount and we will have 5,175 units, which means changing practically 90 percent of those currently in the desalination plants."
Regarding the other five million subsidized by the Regional Ministry, "the Water Consortium will soon launch the tender for the project to install a new rack for the Lanzarote III desalination plant in the Díaz Rijo Central, which will increase production by 10,000 m3/day, and the valuation report is also being prepared for the acquisition of another rack in Lanzarote IV," Cejas pointed out.
The Minister of Water of the Cabildo took advantage of the meeting to address the situation of the project to expand the Wastewater Treatment Plant, WWTP, of Playa Blanca. Minister Manuel Miranda reported that the Canary Islands Government is in the final phase of the environmental assessment of the project "and we have planned to hold a meeting with those responsible for the Yaiza City Council to address this infrastructure from an urban planning perspective," added Domingo Cejas.
