The Canary Islands Government Council approved this Wednesday the Hydrological Plan of the second cycle of Lanzarote, corresponding to the period 2015-2021, while the drafting of the third cycle (2021-2025) continues. The regional Executive decided last year to assume the drafting of this document after the threat that has been hanging over the Islands for years by the European Commission, which warned of applying millionaire fines for not having adapted the hydrological plans to a community directive approved in the year 2000, which required reviewing those plans no later than 2015.
In the case of Lanzarote, in mid-2014 a new Hydrological Plan was initially approved, but its processing was not completed. And in 2015, to avoid possible sanctions, the Canarian Government suspended the Plan that was in force on the island and replaced it with a "transitional" document. At that time, the Cabildo had six months to approve a definitive text, but it did not.
Finally, in June of last year, the regional Executive decided to assume the elaboration and initial approval of the island hydrological plans, which it entrusted through a management order to the Tragsa group, specifically to the company Tragsatec. At that time, they pointed out that the new deadline set by the European Union was September 2018.
Regarding the transitional rules that came into force in 2015 in Lanzarote, it should be remembered that they were annulled a few months ago by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, concluding that establishing a "monopoly" of water on the island constitutes a "flagrant violation" of the Spanish Constitution and also of the Canary Islands Water Law. The ruling, issued on May 18 by the Second Section of the Administrative Litigation Chamber, thus upheld an appeal filed by the commercial entity Daminvest S.L., owner of the VIK hotels, which opposed the prohibition of installing private desalination plants on the island.
Along with that of Lanzarote, the Canarian Government has also approved this Wednesday the Hydrological Plans of Fuerteventura and El Hierro, and points out that "they contain environmental information, of the current situation, both in quality and quantity, of groundwater, surface and coastal waters, as well as consumption needs both human and for the different economic sectors and environmental objectives for the coming years." However, in the case of Lanzarote, the absence of concrete studies on groundwater and its possible use has been questioned, despite the reports that the Podemos group in the Cabildo put on the table a year and a half ago, pointing to the existence of a large aquifer under Timanfaya.
