The heatwave continues in Fuerteventura, and following various reported breakdowns by the CAAF at different points on the island, local complaints have led the Popular Party, in opposition on the Insular Council, to call for solutions from the governing group within the institution.
The Water Supply Consortium of Fuerteventura (CAAF) has reported several breakdowns in the transport and distribution network that have caused supply interruptions since last weekend at various locations on the island.
According to statements issued on 10 August by the CAAF, a breakdown in the pipeline between Puerto del Rosario and Gran Tarajal forced the service to be interrupted in Pozo Negro, Temiscoquey, Tequital, Las Playitas, and La Fuentita. On the same day, the public entity notified issues in the northern area, possibly affecting El Cotillo, El Roque, Lajares, Majanicho, and Villaverde, some of which have already been resolved and others are in the process of repair. The consortium, dependent on the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, indicated that its technicians are working to restore the supply “as soon as possible.”
In a somewhat restrained yet firm statement, the PP conveyed that “we do not wish to politicise the water issue,” but rather “to bring transparency to the management” and to a challenge that “transcends the legislature and political ideology,” remarked Claudio Gutiérrez, spokesperson for the Popular group in the Cabildo.
“We are aware that the water problem on the island requires solutions that will take time. However, during a heatwave – Claudio Gutiérrez considers – being without water for more than fifteen days, while the Cabildo of Fuerteventura offers no alternative solution, is unacceptable.”
This is why the Popular Party of Fuerteventura announced this week that it will submit a request directed to the president of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, Lola García, and the councillor responsible for the area, Adargoma Hernández, to make water tankers available to those affected until the water problem at various locations on the island is definitively resolved, “to alleviate the lack of supply currently affecting areas like Villaverde, El Cotillo, El Roque, or Tefía.”
“There are parties that campaigned saying that by hiring portable desalination plants they could solve the problem in three months. Two years later, we are the same or worse.”
– Claudio Gutiérrez, spokesperson for the PP in the Cabildo.
In light of the situation, the PP has registered a request for the councillor and the president to appear to analyse the execution of the projects from the PICABAS programme, those planned for the remainder of 2025 and 2026, and the budget reallocations.
Gutiérrez emphasised that the water problem “is not resolved in three months or in four years” and that the Insular Supply Plan, valued at 154 million euros, “does not have full funding nor the Hydraulic Works Agreement with the Spanish Government signed.”
At the beginning of July, at a time when the breakdowns that the Consortium faces had yet to occur, the councillor of the Cabildo responsible for managing the entity, Adargoma Hernández, conveyed in statements to Fuerteventura Digital that this summer is faced “with greater guarantees” than in previous years.
Hernández then acknowledged that “there will be cuts,” but dismissed the possibility of repeating the interruptions of five to ten days experienced in previous summers.
