The Arrecife City Council has denounced "the ineffectiveness" on the part of Canal Gestión Lanzarote and the Water Consortium, after the new episodes of flooding experienced this weekend due to the tropical storm Hermine.
According to the mayor, Astrid Pérez, "the third capital of the Canary Islands does not deserve to suffer floods every time it rains due to the lack of investment in sanitation by the Cabildo and the company in charge of water on the island."
"The state of the sewers depends exclusively on the Water Consortium and Canal Gestión, and once again we have seen the consequence of the lack of investment by the Cabildo and the company in the municipality," the mayor questioned.
As an example, she referred to Manolo Millares Street, located at the exit of Arrecife, which she described as a "critical point" that always floods when there is rainfall of a certain intensity.
The rains, a "calvary" for Arrecife
Pérez has defended that in recent years works have been carried out in the municipality, "with funds from the City Council", to improve the rainwater network, "such as those carried out in the Titerroy neighborhood, in the accesses to the Altavista neighborhood and the approval of future actions on Portugal Street."
All this has been carried out "to put an end to the ordeal suffered by these areas every time there is rain, even if it is not the responsibility of the City Council," the mayor said.
Criticism also from the PP in the Cabildo
Also from the Popular Party, to which Ástrid Pérez belongs, they have sent a statement describing the management of the sewage network as "terrible and unsustainable" "by the Insular Water Consortium and Canal Gestión, the service concessionaire."
"Once again, the images of sewers overflowing in many municipalities are repeated, which shows the lack of response from the Insular Water Consortium, which is not leading the problems that are generated in different parts of the island due to a deficient and poorly maintained network," says the Cabildo councilor Jacobo Medina.
The popular ones insist that "it is not the first time that it has happened, especially in Arrecife, without the Consortium acting with the necessary foresight and forcefulness." "What is inadmissible after so many years is that citizens have to continue paying the price for the negligence of the Consortium, which is, after all, the one that must ensure and guarantee the correct functioning of the network."
"No matter how much the City Council strives to clean and maintain the drains, as it has been, it is useless if the sewage network is not in optimal condition, which is what unfortunately happens in Arrecife," says Medina, who believes that the Cabildo "cannot shirk the responsibility it has in all this."
At the same time, the PP group in the Cabildo wanted to "recognize and value the great work that the municipal workers and all the security and emergency personnel, police and civil protection, have carried out, thanks to which there is no need to regret greater incidents than those that have occurred."