The proposal of the mayor of La Guancha, Antonio Hernández, to build an insular water ring has been supported by the rest of the mayors of the region and of Isla Baja who agree that the current model cannot follow.
One more summer, the leaders of this area of the island have been rushed with the public supply. Not all have had to restrict supply but it is true that stronger actions are required to end a problem that has been dragging on for years and that concerns both the quantity and the quality of the service.
There have been several attempts in which they have joined forces to improve it but so far, they have only taken a few timid first steps, such as the campaign to raise awareness about responsible consumption.
That is the reason why Antonio Hernández raised the need to create an insular water ring, a measure that will not only benefit the municipality but also the rest of the region and the Isla Baja, and which basically consists in ending that “ fictitious barrier ”that prevents water from reaching certain municipalities and with the lack of investment in the region.
An initiative that applauds and supports the mayor of Los Silos, Macarena Fuentes, who also urges her counterpart from La Guancha to organize a meeting with the rest of the mayors to promote this initiative and transfer it to the Cabildo and the Insular Water Council, whose technicians can determine which is the most viable solution.
In the case of Los Silos, this summer the water has not had to be restricted, but they have been “in a hurry because farmers use water for human consumption instead of Balten’s water. We have asked for favors because we have seen ourselves at a minimum. Among the mayors we can manage, but over the years it is becoming more complicated, that is why it is important to close a water circle for the region, ”says the mayor.
Esther Morales, from El Tanque, agrees with this statement. In this town, they have two summers without water cuts and that shows “the good work” that is being done from the area, but even so “we continue to have important problems and that is why the higher administrations must help find solutions.”
In the case of Garachico, his president, José Heriberto González, also supports the proposal. “In principle it seems good to me. In any case – he adds – the ring would have to pass through a high level to be able to supply the neighborhoods of the high and middle areas ”.
Antonio González Fortes recalls that the Buenavista Government “has always opted for a change in the structure. That it is through an insular ring can be an interesting proposal in that we would get different service points without there being areas better provided than others. It is clear that we cannot continue with the current structure, which is not only obsolete in the model but also in its capacity ”, he points out.
Finally, Ezequiel Domínguez, councilor of San Juan de la Rambla, considers “that we must go further” and carry out a preliminary study by technicians and specialists to know what the existing situation is, since there are problems of a different nature. Based on its conclusions, it will be determined what actions can be carried out not only to guarantee water but also for quality and supply.
The only one who has not spoken has been the mayor of Icod de los Vinos since it has been impossible to contact him. However, at the meeting held in May in La Guancha, Francis González also demanded the support of higher administrations to face a problem in which the municipalities “are alone,” he lamented.
