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The Canary Islands is half a world away from Hawaii but resembles it in many meaningful ways. On June 30 at 9 am RENEW REBUILD HAWAII will hold a forum with Honolulu Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau and from the Canary Islands Juan Antonio de la Fuente Bencomo and Gonzalo Piernavieje Izquierdo of the Canary Islands Institute of Technology

The Canary Islands, which is a region of Spain, is an archipelago made up of 8 islands that is 900 miles from the Spanish Mainland and almost a mirror image of Hawaii. Surrounded on all sides by the Atlantic Ocean, the Canary islands has become world famous for the Island of Hierro, a volcanic island which is powered by 100% renewable energy. The total population of the Canary islands is 2.2 million. They welcome 12-15 million tourists per year or about 350,000 extra people per day. They hope to be completely energy self sufficient by 2050. The Islands have very low rainfall and suffer from drought conditions. To compensate for this they operate more than 500 desalination plants, the greatest number of desalination plants per capita in the world. https://www.itccanarias.org/web/en/activity/projects/desal 70% of their drinking water comes from desalination plants. There is no shortage of fresh water.

Hawaii is an archipelago also with 8 islands, also suffering from a drought. Hawaii has a slightly lower population 1.4 million. It hopes to go 100% renewable by 2045. In addition to the recent problem of Red Hill, the managers of the Honolulu Board of Water supply grapple with how to provide enough fresh water to supply locals and visitors. In Hawaii some islands have abundant water while others have less rainfall and suffer from drought. Currently no fresh water in Hawaii comes from desalination. There is a shortage of fresh water in Hawaii.

The Canary islands are divided in two groups. The western group consists of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and the El Hierro. The Eastern group consists of  Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuertaventura and six small islets. Tenerife and Gran Canaria have the greatest populations. The Western Islands use 5-10% of their electricity for desalination. The Eastern Islands use 13-18% of their energy for desalination.

The reason for the difference in energy use is that the Western Islands have substantial underground wells. The Eastern Islands depend primarily on desalination.

Hydrological planning has been going on for 30 years. Except for the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura which are primarily tourism driven, the other islands use most of their water (80%) for agriculture.

Other things are similar to Hawaii.There is concern about leaks in pipes of potable water and uncontrolled losses - especially in remote mountainous areas. There are also concerns about fertilizers and other contaminates seeping into the aquifer.

Both island archipelagos have their own regional government water authority which deal with long term planning.

The Canary Islands started their first desalination plant in 1964. The first R/O reverse osmosis plant in the Canary Islands started in 1979. The desalination plants are now overwhelmingly Reverse Osmosis - increasingly powered by solar and wind.

The more than 500 desalination plants produce more than 660,430,131 gallons of fresh water per year which help provide enouhhj water to residents, tourists and agriculture. It is estimated that there is a desalination plant approximately every 3.5 miles of coastline. The desalination plants have helped the Canary Islands become an international laboratory for new desalination technologies in Europe. They based their experimental facility on NELHA on the Island of Hawai’i. Today, it helps diversify through tourist economy and has created jobs in technology innovation.

Most hotels produce their own fresh water.

70% of the water is used for drinking –29% for agriculture 1% for industry

50% of their potable water is lost through leaks in their system. They are working on major water planning because it is much easier to save a million gallons of water than to produce it through desalination.

20% of their treated water is re-used

Renewable energy has reduced the cost of desalination significantly and despite the fact that there is a reduction in rainfall things thanks to desalination they have enough water for their needs. There is care to provide extra water for tourists as it is necessary for them to have a satisfying visitor experience.

Desalination is not an end in itself but “a means to complement conventional systems for obtaining and producing water. “ They try to provide enough extra water to keep their aquifers full. In the Canary Islands they are now doing experiments to see if they can grow vegetables with hydroponics as it takes less water.

Wastewater is another issue.

For this reason they are rethinking their entire water system. Much of their agriculture is now watered with recycled gray water.

Draw backs include what to do with toxic brine deposits which are a waste product of reverse osmosis. Although most brine is mixed and dissolves way out at sea there is concern that the brine has had a negative effect on the Canary Islands natural seaweeds and plant vegetation. Experiments are on going to find out new ways to dispose of the brine.

Please join for us for what should be an interesting discussion.