The Minister of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, announced this Tuesday that the two portable desalination plants to be installed on La Palma will allow irrigation of the farms affected by the eruption in the Aridane Valley at the end of the next week.
In a press conference in which he was accompanied by the president of the Cabildo, Mariano Hernández, the counselor commented that they have the capacity to pump 2,800 cubic meters per day to the network, which will be complemented by the tanker that the central government sends from the Peninsula and will arrive next week.
Valbuena has specified, however, that this irrigation water is for “maintenance” to achieve the “survival” of the plants, not their growth, a “contingency” work so that the farms can guarantee their activity in the future.
???? The foresight in the management of the administrations has meant that the desalination plants that will supply water to the farmers of the Aridane Valley are already in La Palma. pic.twitter.com/YyRJYMpAVS
– Cabildo de La Palma (@CabLaPalma) October 5, 2021
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He pointed out that “it is a very complex task” but with the “effort” of institutions, private companies and the farmers themselves, the terms will be drastically reduced, which initially stood at six months.
In the medium term, he commented that other solutions are being considered, such as building new pipelines and conduits or closing the hydraulic circuit that connects the El Remo area with the south of the island, but “it takes several months.”
The counselor has also pointed out that there will be a “daily monitoring” of the works because “they are not simple, it is a lot of flow”, in order to if a problem arises when the catchment wells are made, it can intervene.
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