The General Assembly of the Island Water Council of Lanzarote approved this Tuesday the definitive declaration of the water emergency for Lanzarote and La Graciosa for the next six months. This same Tuesday, the repair and renovation of the drinking water and sanitation distribution networks has also been put out to public tender for five million euros, one of the measures contemplated in the declaration itself.
The president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, thanked the willingness of the 30 members of the General Assembly to carry out this emergency and "the effort made by the workers of the Consortium and the Island Council, and those who have submitted allegations to the document".
"This declaration is a collective responsibility of the entire society, but it will be the island institutions that promote investments and projects and that set an example in terms of saving water consumption," added the president, who insisted that "all contracts that are made to improve the integral water cycle will be processed in accordance with the State Contracts Law".
"We have assumed our responsibility with the citizens, our obligation is to manage and offer tangible results before the end of the legislature, the president added.
And in this regard, the Minister of Water of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas, announced that since this Monday the State Contracts platform includes the announcement of the public tender of a contract for an amount of five million euros for renovation, expansion and improvement works of supply and sanitation networks in the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, "with own funds of the Water Consortium of Lanzarote and within the framework contract for the execution of the repair in networks, as contemplated in the measures provided for in the water emergency".
The General Assembly, which definitively approved the water emergency with 23 votes in favor, 3 against from the PSOE in the Cabildo and the City Councils of San Bartolomé and Tías, and 3 abstentions from the City Council of Yaiza, CC.OO and Vox, also gave the green light, without votes against, although with the abstention of the PSOE, Tías, San Bartolomé and Yaiza, to the initial documents of the fourth cycle of the Hydrological Plan and its submission to public information and consultation for a period of 6 months, as well as to the third cycle of the Flood Risk Management Plan and its release for consultation and public information for 3 months.
The General Assembly of the Island Water Council, a representative body of society and the competent body for the approval of the water emergency, includes measures to act on three fronts: Increase of production by recovering the production capacity of the Díaz Rijo Plant, reduction of losses in the network and distribution, improvement and promotion of the tertiary systems of the treatment plants (EDARS) with measures aimed at the recovery of wastewater, as well as transversal measures of water economy and wide impact.
In this last aspect, the president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, detailed that the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the public buildings attached to the Island Corporation "will be the first to adopt measures to control water consumption, adapting the new intelligent water saving systems in all its dependencies, while we will also launch an awareness campaign aimed at the population about the water crisis situation we are experiencing".
Twelve million euros in compliance with the measures of the water emergency
Among the measures approved during the six months of validity of the water emergency, the Water Consortium of Lanzarote has already activated three initiatives aimed at "improving production and reducing losses in the distribution and sanitation network".
The Consortium's accounts have two subsidies, for an amount of seven million euros, granted by the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Ministry of Water, which will go to the acquisition of a new frame in the Lanzarote III of 10,000 m3/day, and for the purchase of 3,500 reverse osmosis membranes that are expected to increase by more than 10% the production of drinking water.
In addition to the five million of own funds of the Consortium for the public contract for the repair of the distribution and sanitation network, through the framework agreement that is the form of technical rationalization of contracting consisting of pre-establishing a series of conditions or terms that will be common to all contracts based on that framework agreement.
These works will include actions aimed at the renovation of supply and sanitation networks that are obsolete or with a high degree of deterioration. In addition, well integrated with the previous ones or independently, works will be included for the expansion and improvement of the supply and sanitation networks, as well as the reclaimed water networks, owned by the Water Consortium of Lanzarote and managed by the concessionaire company that manages the integral water cycle in Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
As it is a framework agreement, the Water Consortium of Lanzarote will select through this procedure three awardees whose offers meet the requirements that are required in the Particular Administrative Clauses and represent the best value for money.
The Framework Agreement will have a duration of two years or until the maximum amount is exhausted, whichever occurs first, and the deadline for the start of the works is one month from the signing of the contract. Interested companies have until February 10, at 10:00 am, to submit their offers.
