The municipalities of Arafo, Güímar and Candelaria face the possibility of having to pay 90,000 euros per month each to deal with the transfer, with 36 tanks a day, of industrial wastewater and sludge produced in the polygon Güímar Valley, while they wait for authorization to discharge into the sea from the Edari (Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant), which is not yet complete, although for a few months the filters and sieves have been improved to pre-treat the water.
Although the mayor of Arafo, Juan Ramón Martín, said he was unaware of this possibility, he did confirm that the consistories are obliged to convene and hold an extraordinary plenary session tomorrow to request again the extension of the authorization of the Vice-Ministry for the Fight Against Climate Change , when it expires on February 28 under the same terms that it already did in December. The municipal councilor confirmed that the agreements reached by Candelaria and Arafo in plenary sessions on Thursday, on the plan of stages for purification in the estate, are not valid, due to a question of “dates and improvement of water quality”. Martín was optimistic about achieving that authorization as soon as possible, and recalled that this entire process is taking longer “due to the delay in the delivery of the Edari works, due to the late arrival of some materials”, as the counselor of the Cabildo and head of the Insular Council of Waters of Tenerife (Ciatf), Javier Rodríguez Medina.
Güímar had planned to bring the new approval of the plan of stages – the three town councils are the owners of the estate – on Friday in extraordinary plenary sessions convened for 4:30 p.m. celebrate next, as in Arafo and Candelaria.
The rosary
A municipal engineer warned that until that authorization is obtained, it will be necessary to use 36 tanks a day to transfer industrial wastewater and the sludge they produce to the recently built Edari in El Rosario, the first of its kind in the Canary Islands. That would mean an expense of 270,000 euros per month, 90,000 for each town hall. Once the Edari is completed, the town councils will be responsible for maintaining and monitoring it and the Edaru (regional treatment plant), through an agreement with Ciatf.
