The public company Balsas de Tenerife (Balten) has tripled the irrigation water supply capacity in Vilaflor de Chasna and San Miguel de Abona. The Island Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Grill, explains that in the first half of 2022, the company attached to the Cabildo proceeded to supply these neighboring municipalities with 330,168 cubic meters of water, which is 280 percent more than what was provided in the same period of 2018, when farmers received 86,690 meters cubic.
In this sense, Parrilla emphasizes that an analysis carried out by Balten reveals that in 2021 817,049 cubic meters were supplied, compared to 277,989 in 2018. Likewise, the counselor announced that in the current year it is expected that the contribution of water for irrigation exceeds 840,000.
Javier Parrilla also highlights “the important collective effort made throughout these three years in office” and assures that “these figures reflect the success and commitment of this island Corporation to promote reclaimed water, to provide greater stability and quality to the supply of irrigation water.
Since August 2019, Balsas de Tenerife has been pumping desalinated water from the seawater desalination station located in Fonsalía a Lomo del Balo, in Guía de Isora. This action has allowed the release of flows of mineral water from the Niágara and Tágara galleries, located in the area.
Essential for recovery
The island councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries highlights that, “after an intervention, in March 2020 we were able to start diverting the water to Trevejos, in Vilaflor de Chasna. Water of high quality and in much greater quantity». Javier Parrilla recalls that this basin “also required, in 2020, a washing action on its land, since, as a result of the quality of the water previously supplied, it had worrying levels of salinity.”
As a result of the increase in the volume of water supplied for irrigation to the municipalities of Vilaflor and San Miguel de Abona, there has been an increase in the area cultivated throughout the area, especially dedicated to potato production, according to Javier Parrilla.
At the island level, it should also be remembered that, according to the 2021 Crop Map of the Canary Islands, published by the regional Executive, Tenerife has increased its agricultural area by more than 1,000 hectares, while reducing its uncultivated area by 2,700 hectares.
reclaimed water
Reclaimed water is presented as a fundamental element in the recovery of the primary sector on the Island. It should be remembered that 60 percent of the irrigation water supplied to the Tenerife countryside is reclaimed, that is, treated wastewater that has been subjected to to an additional treatment process that allows their quality to be adapted to the use for which they are intended, in this case crop irrigation. This was presented by Pedro Martín, president of the Cabildo, 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 reclaimed water has taken on for agriculture in the last three years, according to the insular 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 also emphasizes that the reclaimed water that is distributed among farmers in Tenerife “meets all quality standards” set by the Ministry of Health for drinking water. «This was corroborated by three analyzes requested by Balten from an independent laboratory, which is certified by the quality standards of Aenor», a leading entity in the certification of management systems, products and services, says the counselor.
