The PSOE of Lanzarote has denounced that Oswaldo Betancort has once again approved this Tuesday, within the Insular Water Council of Lanzarote, a new extension of the water emergency declaration that "does not provide real solutions and that evidences the incapacity of the current insular government to manage the worst water crisis the island has experienced".
The socialist councilor Ariagona González has recalled that "the Socialist Group already warned in the Cabildo of Lanzarote, both when the water emergency was initially declared and when its first extension was approved, of the real limitations that the Canary Islands Water Law establishes for this type of declarations".
“When a water emergency is declared, the law only empowers to requisition water and to restrict consumption. In Lanzarote there is no water to requisition and consumption is already being restricted by de facto, with continuous cuts and serious supply problems in numerous municipalities,” González explained
The counselor has underlined that, as already happened on the two previous occasions, this new extension is once again a declaration "without practical effects". "It does not incorporate any new measures nor does it improve citizens' access to water. It is a purely formal emergency that changes nothing in the reality of families, businesses, or public services," she has pointed outGonzález has stressed that, according to the governing group itself, "Lanzarote has been in a water emergency situation since August 2023". "Two and a half years have passed since then and the situation has not only not improved, but has become chronic. Extending an emergency again and again without results is an acknowledgment of the failure of their management," he statedIn this regard, he has been adamant in pointing out that the PSOE "is not here to endorse or participate in the permanent theatricalization of an emergency that does not translate into real solutions for the island," and has accused Oswaldo Betancort of "using these extensions to cover up his inability to provide a serious and planned response to the water crisis."
“Water is an essential service and cannot continue to be managed based on empty declarations and meaningless extensions. Lanzarote needs responsible decisions, planning, and effective management that is up to the task of the worst water crisis we have ever experienced,” concluded Ariagona González.