60 percent of the irrigation water that is supplied to the field of Tenerife It is regenerated, that is, purified wastewater that has been subjected to an additional treatment process that allows its quality to be adapted to the use for which it is intended, in this case crop irrigation. This was pointed out yesterday by Pedro Martín, president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, who stressed that this data “demonstrates the importance of the investments in purification and desalination that we are carrying out and that have a budget of more than 200 million euros.”
This figure was provided by Balsas de Tenerife (Balten), dependent on the Island Corporation. The public company has carried out a comparative study of the irrigation water supplied between 2018 and 2021, adding the supply made in the first half of this 2022. The study reflects “the importance” that the supply of regenerated water has taken for agriculture in the last three years, according to the island president. In fact, it is estimated that this 2022 will exceed 20.4 million cubic meters of irrigation water, of which 12.5 will be reclaimed water. The total amount reached this year to irrigate the Tenerife countryside is equivalent to the water in 8,000 Olympic swimming pools.
Javier Parrilla, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, added that in 2021 a total supply of 19.4 million cubic meters was reached, “when in the previous mandate, in 2018, only 14.3 million were supplied. of cubic meters.
twenty
million cubic meters
This year Tenerife will exceed 20 million cubic meters of irrigation water, of which 12.5 million will be treated wastewater.
8,000
olympic swimming pools
The water used in Tenerife this year to irrigate the island field is equivalent to that which would be used to fill more than 8,000 Olympic swimming pools.
Of the 19.4 million cubic meters of water supplied in 2021, 52.19 percent were reclaimed water (10,146,737 cubic meters). However, in the first half of 2022 this figure increased to 61.6 percent, thanks to the implementation in the Northeast (mainly Tegueste and the lagoon towns of Tejina and Valle de Guerra) of the irrigation supply with reclaimed water.
Javier Parrilla also emphasizes that the reclaimed water that is distributed among the farmers of Tenerife “meets all the quality standards” set by the Ministry of Health for drinking water and “this was corroborated by three analyzes requested by Balten to an independent laboratory, which is certified by the quality standards of Aenor”, a leading entity in the certification of management systems, products and services.
Among the actions being carried out by the Cabildo de Tenerife in this area, the works of the Brackish Water Desalination Station for the treatment of purified water from Adeje and Arona stand out, which have an insular investment of 8.7 million euros. The objective is to take advantage of one hundred percent of the urban wastewater generated in both municipalities to produce quality reclaimed water, which will increase the volume of reclaimed water treatment by 16,500 cubic meters per day. In this way, the station will provide a total of 25,000 cubic meters of regenerated water per day.
