Tenerife faces an increasingly delicate situation with one of its most valuable natural resources: groundwater. A report prepared by the Renewable Foundation warns that the four bodies of groundwater on the island are in poor quantitative condition, a situation that it attributes to the combination of three factors: the growth of tourism, high agricultural demand and the effects of climate change.
The study, Water consumption in the Canary Islands and Balearic Islandspoints out that water extraction has exceeded the natural recharge capacity of aquifers for years. This imbalance places Tenerife within a scenario of structural water stress, in which water availability increasingly depends on artificial solutions such as desalination.
Water is being extracted from aquifers faster than it can be recovered.
Experts explain that the problem lies not only in the lack of rain, but also in the fact that water consumption has increased to far exceed the regeneration capacity of the aquifers.
Agriculture continues to be the largest consumer of water in the archipelago, with close to 50% of the total. In the central islands the percentage is around 40%, while in La Palma it reaches 87%.
Within Tenerife, the greatest consumption for irrigation is concentrated in the south of the island. Guía de Isora leads the agricultural demand with 14.1 cubic hectometers annually, followed by Arona, with 10.4 hm³, mainly due to the weight of banana cultivation and the historical expansion of irrigation.
Tourism boosts consumption: a visitor can use up to six times more water than a resident
The Renovables Foundation emphasizes that the situation of aquifers cannot be analyzed solely from agriculture. Population growth and, especially, the constant increase in tourism have also significantly increased the demand for water.
According to the report, a tourist can consume up to six times more water than a resident. While average domestic consumption in the Canary Islands is around 150 liters per inhabitant per day, a guest staying in a five-star hotel can use between 600 and 1,000 liters per day.
Much of this consumption comes from facilities such as swimming pools, spas, gardens or green areas, whose irrigation can represent up to half of the water consumption of some hotel complexes.
Furthermore, the study recalls that the impact of tourism goes far beyond hotels. Agricultural production intended to supply the sector, industrial laundries and other associated services also require large amounts of water. In fact, it estimates that around 80% of the water footprint of tourism is produced indirectly.
Climate change reduces the ability of aquifers to recover
The pressure on groundwater reserves coincides with a progressive decrease in precipitation caused by climate change.
In Tenerife, the natural recharge of aquifers has gone from 36% historically to 29% in recent decades, according to the report. This reduction forces us to increasingly resort to desalination to guarantee supply.
Although this technology allows the production of water in a territory with few surface resources, it also implies significant energy consumption and an increase in CO₂ emissions when electricity comes from fossil fuels.
The measures proposed by experts to stop the overexploitation of Tenerife’s aquifers
Given this scenario, the Renovables Foundation considers that continuing to increase the supply of water is no longer enough and proposes a change in strategy focused on reducing demand.
Among the proposed measures are establishing water capacity limits for each island and each tourist area before authorizing new developments, promoting progressive rates that penalize excessive consumption and promoting savings, reuse and greater efficiency in the use of water.
He also points out that rainwater or fog harvesting can help complement available resources, although he warns that these solutions, by themselves, are not enough to cover current needs.
The Canary Islands lose up to half of their water before it reaches homes
The report also focuses on another of the major problems of the Canary Islands hydraulic system: leaks in the supply networks.
Research from the University of La Laguna estimates that almost half of the water produced is lost before reaching the consumer. Lanzarote presents the most serious situation, with losses of more than 60%.
In Tenerife, the Hydrological Plan places non-revenue water at around 28%, although different organizations maintain that in certain areas the losses could also approach 60% due to the deterioration of the pipes.
To reduce this waste, the Renovables Foundation proposes renewing the oldest infrastructure, installing sensors that allow leaks to be located in real time, improving the sectorization of networks and prioritizing investments in the sections with the greatest losses.
The report concludes that increasing water production makes no sense if a significant part is lost before reaching consumers, and warns that the current growth model is hardly compatible with increasingly limited water resources.
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