The Güímar Valley is authorized to discharge into the sea up to 5,080 million liters from urban and industrial treatment plants, the equivalent of the water in 2,000 Olympic swimming pools. Until none of them come into operation, the maximum average daily flow of pretreated wastewater to be discharged through the polygon’s submarine outfall is set at 1,300 cubic meters per day, with a maximum permitted annual volume of one billion litres, the capacity of 400 Olympic swimming pools.
The commissioning of the industrial treatment plant “must take place no later than December 1”. This is stated in the resolution of the Deputy Minister for the Fight against Climate Change of the Canary Islands Government, Miguel Ángel Pérez, which extends the authorization granted for the discharge of treated urban and industrial wastewater through the underwater outfall of the Polígono Valle de Güímar. Once its remodeling is underway, this outfall will have a length of 621.13 meters, of which 61.32 form the land section.
In the institutional visit made the day before yesterday to the Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant (Edari), Gustavo Pérez, mayor of Güímar, warned that the problem is not resolved. The authorization makes it explicit that “the non-completion of the works corresponding to each of the stages (…) within the period indicated for each of them will mean the expiration of the AVM (authorization of discharges into the sea)”.
The Stage Plan which is applied until the start-up of the treatment plant has five phases and the third is executed, which concludes on the 28th. Until then, effluent flows are diverted to the La Campana treatment plant that reduce the contribution to the submarine outfall. As of that day, the biological reactor and the secondary decanter will come into service and water treatment will increase to reduce its contaminant load. The fifth phase begins on May 25, with the start-up of the physical-chemical plant, which completes the water treatment. The treatment plant will continue to be tested until November 30.
