The Canarian Government have agreed to update and renovate the sewage treatment plant just outside Playa Blanca following several complaints about bad smells and potential health hazards.
Although the plant is the responsibility of Lanzarote’s water supplier Canal Gestión, the regional government has accepted its responsibility to invest in infrastructure when the population of towns and resorts increase.
And it appears to be the recent growth of Playa Blanca that has led to overloading at the sewage plant. Yaiza is the second-fastest growing municipality on Lanzarote after the capital Arrecife, and Playa Blanca’s most recent population of 13,200 is higher than any other resort on the island.
Add to this the pressure on services caused by recent developments such as the 1,400-bed Barceló Playa Blanca Resort hotel, and the admission of the Canarian Water Minister, Manuel Miranda, that the treatment centre has had “problems of capacity that require solving” is understandable.
€10 million will be spent on extending the centre and replacing pumps, with half being spent this year. The work is expected to be completed in 2026.
This project cannot come quickly enough for local residents who have been plagued by a constant stench of raw sewage for months. Local resident Lana Van Selman, a member of one of the Playa Blanca communities that have denounced the treatment centre, claims that locals are being “systematically poisoned, to put it bluntly.”
Lana claims that she and several other families in the neighbourhood have suffered pneumonia, sore throats, and eye and skin irritation, and that a doctor has warned that this could be caused by high levels of hydrogen sulphide – the “rotten egg” gas, which can cause respiratory and irritation problems.
Aside from the effect on locals, there is the effect on the image of Playa Blanca that the sewage treatment plant causes. Any vehicle entering or leaving the resort via the Femés road is likely to be greeted by a nauseating whiff of sewage issuing from the plant. Hardly what you expect from a paradise holiday destination.
And the sewage plant is not the only part of Playa Blanca that is under pressure. The resort’s Blue Flag town beach has already been closed twice this year after traces of sewage were detected in the water.
