The Lanzarote Water Consortium has announced that it will open a file to Canal Gestión for "very serious breaches", for not having responded to the requirements made by the Consortium to provide the Emergency Plan for Supply, Sanitation and Reuse of the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa
In addition, it has requested that the concessionaire company "urgently justify whether for the summer season, in anticipation of the strong tides", it had carried out "the corresponding maintenance work" on the submarine section of the line that supplies the eighth island.
Regarding the Emergency Plan requirements, the Consortium states that this week it has been claimed again ""for the third time in recent months", and stresses that it is "an accurate tool to face with guarantees incidents such as the one experienced in recent days around the supply of drinking water in Caleta de Sebo". The Consortium assures that it already requested the delivery of this planning on December 15, 2021 and, subsequently, on February 15 of this year, without any result.
The Lanzarote Water Consortium sends this new requirement to know "the operation planned by the service concessionaire when it comes to guaranteeing the continuous supply and distribution of drinking water to subscribers, especially during periods of high demand and the continuity of the service, as well as the guarantee of sanitation and reuse; a plan where the process of detection and action against alterations defined as emergencies has to be described".
The entity directed by the counselor Andrés Stinga remarks immediately in this last resolution that "to date there is no record in this Consortium of the delivery of the information required. The lack of this Plan, or the non-delivery to the Water Consortium, considerably hinders decision-making and represents a very serious breach that will be treated independently in the corresponding file derived from the action of Canal Gestión Lanzarote".
"There is no doubt that the Emergency Plan establishes the bases of structure and operation on which the coordinated actions are developed to respond to situations such as the one at hand. Marking the human and material resources necessary to respond to and cope with emergency situations, both in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, which Canal must have", the document states.
In addition, the Consortium points out that once the water supply in La Graciosa has been restored, the Entity demands from the operator "the issuance of a report within five days to know all the details of the water shortage incident that occurred between August 21 and 23, with special mention of the periods of shortage, means used by Canal Gestión Lanzarote to solve the breakage of the pipe in the submarine section of the Guatifay-La Graciosa line, as well as the measures implemented to supply the population and their results".
Maintenance and inspections
The Water Consortium also reminds the company in charge of managing the integral water cycle in Lanzarote and La Graciosa that the Technical Specifications of the contract signed in its day makes it clear that the awarded company "must ensure with its technical means the provision of the service to users and maintain the good working order of the facilities and works entrusted to it, as well as perform the maneuvers and functions necessary for a good operation of the service".
Therefore, the Water Consortium requests Canal Gestión to issue an immediate report "on the date of the last inspection carried out to ensure the correct operation and state of conservation of the Guatifay-La Graciosa transport network in all its sections, including the submarine section. A copy of said inspection must be delivered, and it must be signed by the personnel who carried it out and the technician responsible for the department".
In the request sent, the public entity also requests a response to the maintenance work that has been carried out on the submarine section of the supply line of the Guatifay-La Graciosa network "in view of the forecast of strong summer tides". The Consortium also demands the mandatory technical report of the breakage and the videographic and photographic material that helps in decision making.
The Consortium assures that there are still homes without supply
On the other hand, the Consortium is aware that there is still "a lack of supply in some homes in Caleta de Sebo, even after the breakdowns that caused episodes of shortage have been resolved". Therefore, from the public company mostly owned by the Institution chaired by María Dolores Corujo, a communication has been sent this Friday to Canal Gestión Lanzarote to adopt "the necessary measures, as soon as possible, to ensure the supply of water to homes that do not have a normal supply in La Graciosa as of this date".
Even, among the measures, if necessary, the Consortium proposes that drinking water be transported by truck, "in sufficient quantity depending on the consumption of each home from the general tanks to the reserves (either tanks on the roof or cisterns) of these homes".
The Consortium adds that the logical objective pursued is "to avoid any supply shortage as long as the service is restored with absolute normality".
Finally, on the morning of this Friday, August 26, the president of the Lanzarote Water Consortium, Andrés Stinga, held a meeting with the mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort, at the headquarters of the Cabildo of Lanzarote. At the meeting, both leaders agreed to convene the Assembly of the Island Water Consortium for next Monday, August 29.
