The expansion, improvement, and tertiary system of the Wastewater Treatment Plant (EDAR) of Playa Blanca has been the focus of part of the meeting held this Monday in Yaiza on the occasion of the visit of the vice-counselor of Emergencies and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands, Marcos Lorenzo, and the director general of Water, José Miguel García Leal.
The meeting, with the mayor Óscar Noda and the councilor for Water of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas, has allowed to address the situation of an infrastructure promoted by the Lanzarote Water Consortium, whose financing and execution has been assumed by the Government of the Canary Islands and which already has both the purification and discharge authorization from the Insular Water Council and the urban planning compatibility report and the land transfer by the Yaiza City Council.
The authorization has already been notified to the Consortium and sent to the Directorate General of Water of the Government of the Canary Islands to continue with the necessary procedures to materialize the action. The plant will go from a current capacity of 2,250 to 6,322 cubic meters per day, an increase of 4,072 cubic meters per day, equivalent to approximately 181% more. The resulting facility will have about 2.8 times the current capacity and will improve the treatment of wastewater from Playa Blanca and the conditions of discharge through the submarine outfall.
The resolution of the Insular Water Council, issued on September 29, represents an essential administrative step for the execution of the project. The visit of the vice-counselor and the director general of Water has served to review the status of the action and the coordination between the administrations involved.
The president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, the Water Consortium, and the Insular Water Council, Oswaldo Betancort, highlights that "the coordination between administrations has made it possible to overcome an essential procedure for an infrastructure that Playa Blanca needs".
Betancort points out that "in hydraulic works, obtaining financing is fundamental, but obtaining the necessary authorizations can be an equally complex process. The Water Consortium, the Insular Council, and the Cabildo have worked hand in hand, with the support of favorable reports from the regional and state administrations regarding biodiversity and coasts. This collaboration has made it possible to advance the authorization file and put the project in the hands of the Government of the Canary Islands for its execution".
The Deputy Minister of Emergencies and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands, Marcos Lorenzo, points out that “the Government of the Canary Islands has assumed the financing and execution of this expansion. The authorization granted allows progress in the procedures for an action that will increase the treatment capacity to 6,322 cubic meters per day and will reinforce the treatment of wastewater from Playa Blanca”.
The procedure began in January 2024 with the request for a simplified environmental assessment. After the corrections to the environmental document and the formalization of the delegation of environmental assessment competence to the regional body, the project obtained its Environmental Impact Report on March 31, 2026.
Subsequently, the purification and discharge authorization was processed, with favorable technical reports, a public information period in which no objections were submitted, and consultations with the competent administrations. The file culminated with the express agreement of the Consortium, on September 28, and the definitive resolution of the Insular Water Council the following day.
The resolution authorizes the purification, discharge, and actions planned in the expansion, improvement, and tertiary system project, with the corresponding technical and environmental conditions.
The Minister of Water of the Cabildo, Domingo Cejas, emphasizes that “this expansion will improve the purification and environmental conditions of the water discharged into the sea”.
Cejas adds that “this is a necessary action for the residents of Playa Blanca and to reinforce sanitation and purification in the municipality of Yaiza. With the environmental assessment concluded and this authorization granted, we are moving forward so that the project can become an infrastructure at the service of the population”.
The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, highlights that “Playa Blanca needs a treatment plant with sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the population. Going from 2,250 to 6,322 cubic meters per day represents a decisive improvement for the municipality. The coordination between the City Council, the Cabildo, the Consortium, the Insular Council, and the Government of the Canary Islands is fundamental for this project to materialize”.
“It is the essential coordination that we have always advocated for from Yaiza, and even more so when we talk about a pressing project for which we once again demand its tender and guarantee of multi-year investment,” said the mayor.
The mayor of Yaiza took advantage of the meeting to convey other needs of the municipality such as the construction of a new Wastewater Pumping Station, the Intermediate EBAR near Marcastell.
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