This decision comes after the deadline of April 6 for the concessionaire to transfer service management to another entity expired. The contract, signed in 2013 during Pedro Sanginés's (CC) presidency of the Cabildo, included this possibility, but negotiations did not advance despite two three-month extensions.
“"It was not merely about replacing one company with another, but about ensuring a qualitative leap in service provision in the general interest and under the conditions established by the Consortium Assembly."
The termination file is based on Canal Gestión's "repeated non-compliance" in infrastructure maintenance, leak and breakdown repairs, and the execution of committed investments. These failures have exacerbated water losses, which exceed the contractual limit of 30%, reaching 56% in 2025 and 61% in 2021, and have progressively deteriorated the island's hydraulic system.
The situation is critical, as Lanzarote has been in a water emergency since February 2025, a declaration that has been extended multiple times, most recently on February 3 for another six months. Despite these measures, 17.6 million cubic meters of water were lost in the network in 2025, according to data from the Lanzarote Data Center.
“"We are moving towards closing a chapter of the contractual procedure after a rigorous, serious process with all legal guarantees, which has included a meticulous audit of Canal Gestión's management during these years."
The Water Consortium will submit this proposal to its next General Assembly. Once approved, the agreement will be sent to the Canary Islands Consultative Council, which must issue a mandatory report within a maximum of 40 days.
Meanwhile, the PSOE, the main opposition party in the Cabildo, has criticized President Betancort's management, accusing him of "dragging" Lanzarote into "three years of water chaos" and failing to advocate for public water management. Dolores Corujo, the party's general secretary on the island, stated that the water emergency declarations have been "useless" and have not resolved the issues of water cuts and network collapse.
“"A company is not an NGO. A company comes to manage water to make money. Today it's called Canal Gestión and tomorrow it will be called something else, but if the same private model is maintained, Lanzarote will remain trapped in the same logic: profits for the company and problems for the citizens."
