The Island Water Council of Lanzarote has agreed to assign its functions to the Government of the Canary Islands, on a temporary basis, since "it does not have the material and personal means necessary to exercise them adequately". These functions will be exercised through the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, on which the General Directorate of Territorial Planning, Ecological Transition and Water depends.
"For years, the Island Water Council of Lanzarote has been developing its functions in coordination with the regional Administration, but with little staff and suffering from structural deficiencies that have worsened in recent months with the resignation of its manager. The continuous lack of personnel and the neglect to which this body has been subjected for many years prevents it from fully developing the powers assigned to it by the Water Law of the Canary Islands", they point out from the Cabildo.
For these reasons, and at the proposal of the president, it has been decided to temporarily assign the powers to the Government of the Canary Islands, in order to guarantee the correct functioning of the Council. This assumption is included in article 11.1 of the Law itself, which establishes that “the Government of the Canary Islands may, through its competent bodies, exercise the powers of the Island Councils described above, provided that it is requested by them and agreed by Decree”.
"Years of neglect and abandonment"
“Years of neglect and abandonment, in which the Island Water Council has been relegated, force us to make a decision that we do not like but is inevitable. Renouncing, even temporarily, our own powers is never pleasant, but we have to guarantee the correct exercise of the powers attributed to the Council and we are forced to resort to the Government of the Canary Islands”, said the president of the Island Water Council and Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo.
The president stressed that the ordinary management of this entity is transferred “with the guarantee that Lanzarote will be consulted in all important decisions” and concluded by expressing her confidence that this situation “can be reversed promptly”.
The Island Water Council of Lanzarote is a Public Law entity with its own legal personality and full functional autonomy, which assumes, in a regime of decentralization and participation, the direction, organization, planning and unitary management of water in the terms established by the Water Law. The Council has been carrying out various functions, such as controlling the execution of hydrological planning or carrying out hydraulic works under the responsibility of the Autonomous Community on the island.
