The Water Consortium of Lanzarote has awarded, through the open procedure of the framework agreement established in the water emergency, the works of renovation, expansion and improvement of the supply and sanitation networks on the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
The budget allocated to these works, which will be carried out by three concessionary companies in the sector, amounts to 5 million euros of own funds from the Water Consortium, with a duration of two years or until the maximum amount is exhausted, whichever comes first. The deadline for the start of the works is one month from the signing of the contract.
“The declaration of water emergency has allowed us to sign this framework agreement, streamlining the contracting of vital works to improve the supply and sanitation service to all citizens of Lanzarote and La Graciosa. These 5 million euros are already in the starting box, but soon and with another investment of 7 million euros we will increase water production through the acquisition of a new rack and the purchase of reverse osmosis membranes,” said the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Water Consortium, Oswaldo Betancort.
The contracting table of the Water Consortium approved last Friday the technical report on the evaluation of the offers presented by the three companies that will be in charge of the works: the UTE Lanzagrava, S.L. and Cororasa, Abaldo S.A and the UTE Horinsa S.L. and Transportes y Excavaciones Tiagua, S.L.
“With these works we will considerably reduce the scandalous water losses suffered by the island. The works will include obsolete networks or those with a high degree of deterioration, but it will always be the technicians of the Water Consortium who establish the priorities and needs to improve the distribution and sanitation network,” adds the Councilor for Water of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas.
Scheduled works
Among the works programmed by the Water Consortium of Lanzarote, according to the specifications for the contracting of the framework agreement, are the following:
• Renovation of the supply network of c/ Miramar (Güime)
• Renovation of the supply network of c/ El Arroyo and Las Rosas (Montaña Blanca)
• Renovation of the supply network of c/ Camino Barranco por la Vegueta (Tías)
• Renovation of the supply network of c/ Puerto del Carmen – Mácher (Tías)
• Renovation of the supply network of c/ Valle de la Degollada (Yaiza)
• Renovation of the supply network of c/ La Gomera (Playa Blanca)
• Improvement of the sanitation network in Avenida Las Playas (Puerto del Carmen)
• Renovation of the sanitation network of c/ El Chinchorro (Playa Blanca)
• Expansion of the supply network on the Carretera Teguise – Uga (LZ-20)
Also included within the works to be executed will be unscheduled actions whose need may arise during the term of the framework agreement.
The water emergency in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, with an initial application period of 6 months, was approved at the General Meeting of the Island Water Council last January with 23 votes in favor, 3 against from the Socialist Group of the Cabildo and the City Councils of San Bartolomé and Tías, and 3 abstentions from the City Council of Yaiza, CC.OO and Vox.
The declaration of water emergency includes measures to act on three fronts: Increase in production, recovering the operating capacity of the Díaz Rijo Plant and reducing losses in the network and in distribution; the improvement and promotion of the tertiary systems of the treatment plants (EDARS) for the recovery of wastewater, and the transversal measures of water saving in buildings and public facilities.
Thanks to the declaration of water emergency, the Water Consortium has benefited from two subsidies for an amount of 7 million euros, granted by the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Ministry of Water, which are destined to the acquisition of a new rack in the Lanzarote III of 10,000 m3/day, and to the purchase of 3,500 reverse osmosis membranes that will increase the production of drinking water by more than 10 percent.
