To combat the drought, the Tenerife Council announced on Tuesday that the water supply to the population, especially to the agricultural sector, will be increased in July. This will consist of an extra 12,000 cubic meters – equivalent to five Olympic pools – each day during the month, with 9,000 directed towards the island’s agriculture. This was stated by Tenerife’s president, Rosa Dávila, before the first meeting of the Drought Committee, a collegiate body under the Insular Water Council as a tool for monitoring and disseminating the Island’s Water Emergency Declaration.
According to information provided by the Council, Tenerife consumes 540,000 cubic meters daily, equivalent to 216 Olympic pools. The additional 12,000 cubic meters will come from portable desalination plants, operational purification plants, and treated water, detailed Dávila, who compared it to the amount needed to supply a municipality of 80,000 inhabitants.
“As you know, on May 29, the Water Emergency Declaration on the island of Tenerife was formally decreed, which included 75 measures,” Dávila reminded the media. “Of those 75 measures, we must say that today 90% are already in progress, that is, 67, promoted by the Tenerife Council, Balten and the Insular Water Council,” she explained.
The president also stated that the Insular Water Council of Tenerife plans to add about 60,000 cubic meters of water per day in less than a year, “increasing the water flow supply by more than 10% for the general population and 25% for the agricultural sector.” She continued: “This will be possible thanks to the collaboration of Balten, some municipalities on the island, and the private sector as holders of groundwater and desalination plants.”
“Supply Guarantee”
The highest Tenerife Council official lamented on Tuesday that there has been a very dry winter, stating that there is a “climate crisis and an important decision had to be made, such as this fight against the drought that the island of Tenerife has embarked on to ensure a supply guarantee, not only of drinking water for the population but also to ensure that the agricultural sector has sufficient water available to guarantee their crops.”
Dávila was accompanied by the insular vice president, Lope Afonso, and the councillors for Natural Environment, Sustainability and Security, and Emergencies, Blanca Pérez, and Primary Sector and Animal Welfare, ValentínGonzález. The latter mentioned that the situation with water reservoirs “is complicated.” The councillor explained: “At the moment, we are around 40% capacity in the Balten reservoirs, so it is important to implement these types of actions to increase flow rates in the mid-altitude areas.” He also emphasized that they are working “with the exchange system to maintain flows in those areas and try to exchange with industrial water or desalinated water in the lower part of the municipalities.”
In more detail, the Drought Committee’s main objective is to monitor, inform, and disseminate to all interested social agents the parameters that have determined the water emergency declaration decreed on May 29, 2024, for Tenerife, as well as monitor the measures proposed in that document.
The Committee is made up of representatives of municipalities, consortia, public companies and public service management, concessionaire entities or holders of water rights, agricultural organizations, business and union organizations, the Canary Islands Government, and the Council. It also includes a representative of farmers for each of the following hydraulic regions: Las Cañadas delTeide, Northwest, Valle de La Orotava, Northeast, Anaga, Metropolitan Area, Valle de Güímar, Southeast, and Southwest. The managers of Balten and the Insular Water Council of Tenerife are also part of it.
This new body is expected to meet ordinarily once a month for the duration of the water emergency declaration, without prejudice to the possibility of holding extraordinary meetings for urgent reasons approved by majority vote of the Committee.
