the rafts of Tenerife They are below minimum. The consequences of severe drought suffered by the Island this year have been felt in the 23 reservoirs managed by Balten, a company dependent on the Cabildo de Tenerife, keys to facilitating irrigation to the island countryside. According to the latest data from the volume that Balsas de Tenerife (Balten) has just released at the close of last June, these infrastructures are at 32% of their capacity; that is, they store 1.3 million cubic meters of water out of the 5 million they have capacity. If the volume of an Olympic swimming pool is used as a reference, of the 1,612 pools of water that exist in these reservoirs for the entire Island, only 410 remain.
Is the worst occupancy data for the rafts in Tenerife in the last six years, the entire series listed on Balten’s official website. The worst figures occur in the northern reservoirs, where the water only covers 26% of its capacity. The annual comparison underlines the seriousness of the situation, about which the Cabildo de Tenerife already speaks openly of a “water crisis”. In no previous year since 2018, the balance at the end of June had dropped below 45%. From 65% in 2021, 60% in 2018 and 2019, 56% last year and 46% in 2020, it has now gone to 32%. Data leads to Valentin gonzalezCEO of the Primary Sector and Animal Welfare, to talk about the “worrying” situation.
González clarifies that there is a circumstance that aggravates the situation in this 2023. In the balance of the end of June of this year, two very important rafts for Tenerife appear completely empty: Montaña de Taco, the one with the largest capacity on the entire island with 821,739 cubic meters , and that of the Barranco de Benijos, which can contain a maximum of 206,373 cubic meters. The one in Montaña de Taco was recently rehabilitated by the Island Corporation and the one in Benijos is still in the remodeling phase. Hence, it is partly explained that from the 3.2 million cubic meters that existed at the beginning of July 2021, it has now gone to 1.3 million, almost two million less.
Even so, Valentín González speaks of “emergency” and “urgent” solutions to guarantee water to agricultural production. And it is that the primary sector is the main one affected by a crisis before which the new government team of the Cabildo de Tenerife has begun to adopt solutions. The two portable desalination plants that will generate 2,000 cubic meters of water per day are already on the Isla Baja and will be installed on land in the municipality of Los Silos that is donated by the company SAT Dóniz, dedicated to the production of fruit. In fact, one is already on those lands ready to be tuned up and start operating. The other will be placed immediately after.
But there is more, as announced yesterday by the CEO of the primary sector. The second is to finish the work to improve the water quality in the Hoya del Cedro gallery, in the highlands of the municipality of La Orotava, and thus allow part of the water to be carried from this underground conduit to the south of Tenerife. And the third solution would be to pump water from El Boquerón, a reservoir located in La Laguna, to the Fray Diego reservoir, located in the municipality of Tacoronte.
In parallel, the Cabildo itself and the town halls begin to ask the population to be responsible with the use of a basic but very limited good such as water, especially after the driest and hottest winter in history and the coldest summer. suffocating that is remembered, that for now it has already had two waves of heat.
The evolution in the last 6 years
The occupation of the 23 rafts that Balten manages in Tenerife is this summer at the lowest level in the last six years. This is the evolution:
Comparison year by year:
At the end of June, the reservoirs in Tenerife were at 32% of their capacity (1.3 million cubic meters out of a total capacity of 5 million), making the situation in the north of the island especially worrisome, where They are at 26%.
Last year, at the end of June, the rafts were at 56% capacity: 2.8 million cubic meters for five capacity.
The year 2021 gave the best data in the last six years: 65% volume over total capacity.
In 2020, the rafts were 46% full, 2.3 million cubic meters of 5.
In both 2018 and 2019, the reservoirs managed by Balten, of the Cabildo de Tenerife, were at 60% at the beginning of July.
rafts.. problem with the English language, right?
–
a flat buoyant structure of timber or other materials fastened together, used as a boat or floating platform.
2
a large amount of something.
Czasownik
1
travel on or as if on a raft.
I have rafted along the Rio Grande
2
bring or fasten together (a number of boats or other objects) side by side.