The Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Planning, José Antonio Valbuena, has advanced this Tuesday that the forecast is that two desalination plants will begin to provide water for the irrigation of banana farms on the coast of the Aridane Valley at the end of next week.
Valbuena explained that the water provided by both desalination plants, which will arrive this Tuesday at the port of Santa Cruz de La Palma, together with the tanker that travels from the Peninsula to the island and the desalination plant of a hotel in Puerto Naos will serve to keep them alive plants, not to save production, which seems “quite complicated”.
The counselor has indicated that the two desalination plants, with a daily supply capacity of 2,800 cubic meters each, will be tomorrow in Puerto Naos, where analyzes of the physical and chemical properties of seawater are being carried out.
From a chemical point of view, Valbuena pointed out, “it is perfectly suitable for desalination”, but there is “a problem” with the ash emitted by the volcano, because it could damage the membranes of the desalination plants.
This circumstance requires the construction of two catchment wells in points of the coast of Puerto Naos.
The machinery has already been commissioned and the construction of these wells is scheduled to begin on Thursday.
If everything “goes well” and there are no problems, the forecast is to start providing irrigation water to the farms on the coast of the Aridane Valley at the end of next week, predictably on Thursday, coinciding with the arrival of the tanker, has Vabuena said.
This tanker has a capacity of 8,000 cubic meters, but it remains to be seen “how much it translates into” in daily contribution, depending on the barimetry of the area, the ship’s draft, and the connections with land to be launched.
The counselor has emphasized that under normal conditions, the deadline for an action of these characteristics would be several months, up to six.
Regarding the chances of survival of the seedlings on the farms, he pointed out that it is “a complex task” that depends on how the greenhouses are, because in addition to water, the banana tree depends on light and “other factors”.
For the rest, it has indicated that these are emergency actions, and that in the medium term work is being done on closing the island’s hydraulic circuit.
The president of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata, has emphasized that the measures proposed are not only for the coast of the Aridane Valley but also for the Manchón and for the irrigators that are below the Cuatro Caminos raft.
As for the complaints of the farmers of Fuencaliente, he has indicated that the cut caused by the breakage of the pipeline in La Bombilla “is not affecting them” and they have “the usual water”.
He has noted that there is a common “problem” among farmers throughout the island, which is the affection of the ashes to the banana trees, to the hanging fruit.
Zapata has guaranteed that the solutions that are taken in the medium term “will be global for the entire island.”
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