The increase of energy cost electricity puts at risk the continuity of water extraction from the 150 active wells in Tenerifea key activity for drinking and irrigation water supply on the island. According to alert the Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the Canary Islands (ASAGA Canary Islands ASAJA), the well communities of Tenerife could “paralyze the extraction of irrigation water and supply due to the disproportionate increase that the electricity rate has experienced in recent months and the impossibility of its owners to assume those high prices».
The president of Asaga Canarias, Angela Delgadowarns that “it is a situation of great impact not only on the island’s agricultural activity, but also on the population’s own supply, taking into account that, according to data from the Tenerife Hydrological Planthe 150 cubic hectometres that groundwater supplies to the island come from 90 galleries and 60 wells».
In October 2021, the electricity companies that supplied power to the island’s wells stopped doing so, unable to meet their commitments to their customers, so the community members were forced to submit to the conditions of the electricity market to be able to continue extracting water. The change of model meant having to pay a price five times higher“as it went from a fixed monthly rate of 46 euros per megawatt to 239 euros in December”.
150 active wells
On the island of Tenerife there are currently 300 wells, of which 150 remain active. They are located between 200 and 400 meters above sea level, and supply drinking and irrigation water. Energy represents around 90% of the cost of operating a well on the islands, so the electricity bill has an immediate effect on the price of water.
Asaga details that this sharp rise has tripled the electricity bill paid by the well communities: “Installations that paid an invoice of 27,000 euros in the month of October now pay 82,000: 55,000 euros of difference in just two months.” The most immediate consequence has been the increase in the cost of the water pipe, which has gone from 0.30 to 0.60 euros, depending on the level of elevation. An extra cost that farmers must now assume in order to keep their farms alive. An increase that, in addition, could get worse.
In order to alleviate the negative effects of this situation, Canary Islands ask the Council of Tenerife, «which has already guaranteed farmers that they will not pay more for Balten’s irrigation water as the corporation assumes the rise in electricity costs, the creation of a specific line of aid, within the budget allocated to Agriculture, for the extraction of water from wells. The Canary Islands also have a compensation of eight million euros that it manages the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries to reduce the extra cost of desalination and the extraction of water from wells and galleries for agricultural irrigation for farmers, but the communities of wells state that this amount “of which it is unknown if it will continue this year, was assigned in a context very different from the current one”, warns Delgado.
