The manager of the Island Water Council, Erik Martín, has submitted a proposal that could lead to the closure of up to 48 private desalination plants operating on the island, mostly in hotels and apartment complexes. The report, dated July 7, will be presented this Thursday to the General Board of the Council, in the extraordinary and urgent meeting in which the initial approval of the new Hydrological Plan of Lanzarote is also scheduled.
The manager's proposal divides these 48 desalination plants into three blocks and proposes to start acting with the first one, given the "lack of personnel" that he claims this body has. This block includes 16 facilities that lack authorization and did not request their legalization before November 2015, which was when the transitional rules of hydrological planning that are currently in force were approved.
For all of them, the manager proposes that a sanctioning file be initiated, that the "immediate temporary suspension of the activity causing unauthorized discharges" be ordered, that the Government of the Canary Islands be proposed "the closure of the facilities causing the discharge", that "the illicitly obtained benefit" for this activity be restored, that "the connection to the general system" be urged and that the situation be communicated to both the corresponding city council and the health authority, warning that a "crime against public health" could be being committed.
Legalization "in case there is no supply capacity"
The report of the Council's manager also raises the option of legalizing these plants, but only in case there is no "supply capacity". This is precisely what happens in the case of Montaña Roja, since the public network does not reach that partial plan and that is why the operation of the plant was authorized at the time. However, this desalination plant is the only one against which the Council has acted so far, even executing a seizure that was later annulled by the courts and that led to the indictment of the president, Pedro San Ginés, and other technicians and officials. Later, last year, San Ginés revoked the authorization that the plant had.
As for the rest, no measures have been taken to date, despite the fact that the situation has been known for years and in particular for a decade, when the Hydrological Plan that is still pending approval began to be processed. In that text, whose progress was approved in 2011, the presence of illegal private desalination plants was already warned, indicating that the Council was carrying out "inspections", of which no results have been known.
"The lack of personnel has been transmitted by this Management to the General Board and the Governing Board of the Island Water Council of Lanzarote in all the sessions held since August 2015, without any incorporation of personnel having been made to date", the manager also points out in his writing, in which he points out that "the small staff does not cover the minimum needs that are required for the service to function fluently, and causes the processing times to be delayed and lengthened".
In addition, he warns that the opening of sanctioning files that he proposes will mean "that more resources are consumed and the need to have external legal services, with support from the legal service of the Cabildo", given that it is foreseeable that the resolutions will be appealed by those affected in the courts.
Consultations on the capacity to supply water
Precisely the lack of personnel is alluded to by the manager to propose that action be started with the block that he considers most serious, as it lacks permission and has not requested it. As for the second, it includes 16 plants that also do not have authorization, but requested it before November 2015; while the third refers to another 16 desalination plants "authorized", "registered" or "with authorization in progress or in the process of renewal".
For these last two blocks, the manager proposes that a report be requested from the Water Consortium of Lanzarote, to find out if the public network, currently managed by Canal Gestión, can supply water to those areas. If the answer is negative, the authorization could be authorized or renewed, "after a report from the health authority". But if the network managed by Canal can supply water to those hotels and apartments, as is the case in almost all cases, he proposes to deny the authorization and also urge the Government of the Canary Islands to close the plants, as well as the connection to the general island system. And also the initiation of a sanctioning file, for those that are operating without a valid permit.
In his report, the manager specifies that in addition to the files that were open on these 48 desalination plants, there are four other active ones. Two of them correspond to desalination centers of the Consortium, one to a desalination plant of Aena and the fourth to Club Lanzarote, owner of the Montaña Roja desalination plant. And in this last case he does not make any proposal, pointing out that it is "currently in judicial proceedings".
The authorized desalination plants will only be able to operate until 2019
As for the new Hydrological Plan that the government group will submit this Thursday for initial approval, it maintains that the desalination activity is the "sole and exclusive" competence of the Island Water Consortium of Lanzarote, stating that "the installation of new desalination plants of private initiative will not be authorized or granted, except as provided in the first transitional provision" of the document.
This provision establishes that both the treatment plants and the desalination plants that have authorization and that are destined for self-consumption "will maintain their validity until the term included in it is exhausted, being able to renew their authorization for a maximum period of three years or until the moment in which it is fixed, prior agreement of the parties". In any case, it specifies that it may not "exceed in any case the maximum date set on December 31, 2019", for which there are less than two and a half years left.
As for those that do not have authorization, "and only in the event that they have requested the regularization of their situation in the Island Water Council of Lanzarote prior to November 16, 2015, they may obtain authorization", but also with a maximum validity limit that would end at the end of 2019.
"Only exceptionally, when the consortium cannot supply water, the temporary installation of desalination plants may be authorized for self-consumption", the text of the Hydrological Plan also states. However, although it is submitted for initial approval this Thursday, it is still necessary to complete several procedures for its entry into force. The first is to also receive the approval of the Plenary of the Cabildo, to send it later to the Government of the Canary Islands. At that time, a report from the Cotmac must be issued and, if it is favorable, the final approval by the regional Executive would proceed.
List of the facilities in which it is proposed to intervene:
BLOCK 1
Hotel Barceló Costa Teguise
Bungalows Atlantic Gardens
Hotel Royal Mónica
Apartamentos Teguisol
Hotel hl Rio Lanzarote
Hotel Paradise Island
Hotel Sands Beach Resort
Apartamentos Las Marinas Vital Class
Apartamentos Blue Bay
Hotel Gran Castillo
Hotel Iberostar Lanzarote Park
Apartamentos Guacimeta
Hotel Riu Paraíso
Hotel San Antonio
La Santa Sport
Apartamentos Hered Kamesí
BLOCK 2
Hotel Beatriz Playa
Hotel Beatriz Costa
Hotel Lanzasur Club
Valle del Fenauso
Hotel Gran Teguise Playa
Hotel Be Live Lanzarote Resort
Hotel Las Costas
Hotel Lanzarote Village
Hotel Floresta
Apartamentos Sun Tropical, Sun Royal y Sun Island
Apartamentos Los Zocos
Diverhotel Lanzarote
Aquapark Lanzarote
Hotel HD Beach Resort
Apartamentos Tuscan
Hotel Fariones
BLOCK 3
Agro-lanzarote
Hotel Timanfaya Palace
Hotel Corbeta
Hotel Rubicón Palace
Hotel Costa Calero
Marina Rubicón
Hotel Princesa Yaiza
Aparthotel Son Bou
Hotel Sol Lanzarote
Hotel Sentido Lanzarote Aequora Suites
Apartamentos Ficus
Apartamentos Trébol
Hotel Jameos Playa
Hotel Gran Meliá Salinas
Hotel Be Live Experience Lanzarote Beach
Apartamentos Hyde Park Lane