Water on Lanzarote
💧 Where Does Lanzarote’s Water Come From?
Lanzarote is surrounded by the Atlantic, yet for centuries the lack of fresh water was one of the greatest challenges faced by its inhabitants. There are no permanent rivers on the island, and rainfall is both scarce and irregular.
Today, most of the water supplied to residents is produced from Atlantic seawater through desalination. But how did people cope before, and what changed when the island’s first desalination plant began operating?
🌧️ An Island Where Water Is Scarce
Lanzarote is one of the driest islands in the Canary Archipelago. According to AEMET data from the weather station at the airport, average annual rainfall is around 111 mm, with most rain falling during the autumn and winter months. In summer, rainfall is negligible.
The island’s relatively low elevation means that Lanzarote does not capture moisture-laden air masses as effectively as the higher islands of the archipelago. In addition, water easily seeps through the porous volcanic ground or, during heavy rainfall, quickly flows away through barrancos – normally dry channels that carry water after rain.
As a result, Lanzarote has no permanent rivers or natural surface-water reserves that could provide its inhabitants with a regular supply of fresh water.
💡 111 mm of rainfall – what does that actually mean?
It is equivalent to around 111 litres of rain per square metre over an entire year. For comparison, annual rainfall in Warsaw is about five times higher.
🏺 Where Did the Majos Get Their Water?
Lanzarote’s first inhabitants – the Majos – had to survive without rivers or regular rainfall. They relied mainly on rainwater that collected in natural depressions in the landscape, as well as the few places where groundwater could be reached.
💡 Who were the Majos?
The Majos were the indigenous inhabitants of Lanzarote before the European conquest of the island in the early 15th century. Their origins, way of life and archaeological remains are described in more detail on the page:
👉 The Majos of Lanzarote – Who Were the Island’s First Inhabitants?
💧 Every Drop Was Precious – How Was Rainwater Collected?
Following the European conquest of Lanzarote, which began in 1402, systems for collecting rainwater were further developed. Water running off roofs, courtyards and hillsides was channelled into reservoirs, where it could be stored for long periods without rainfall. The main types used were aljibes and maretas.
🕳️ Aljibes – Water Stored Underground
An aljibe is an enclosed cistern, usually partially or completely sunk into the ground. Rainwater was channelled into it from roofs and specially prepared surfaces around buildings.
Keeping the cistern covered reduced evaporation and helped protect the water from contamination. Aljibes were therefore built beside houses and farms, providing their own water reserves for periods of drought.
🌧️ Maretas – Larger Water Reservoirs
Maretas were open reservoirs into which water running off a larger surrounding area was channelled. Natural depressions in the terrain were often used, then deepened and adapted for storing rainwater.
👑 Gran Mareta de Teguise – The Great Water Reservoir
The most important reservoir of this type on Lanzarote was the Gran Mareta de Teguise, also known as Mareta de la Villa. It was created in a natural depression, probably already used by the Majos to collect water. After the conquest, the system was expanded, with further major works carried out in the 16th century during the time of Agustín de Herrera y Rojas.
Rainwater from the surrounding area, including the slopes of Guanapay, flowed into the mareta. The reservoir served not only the inhabitants of Teguise – during periods of drought, people also came here for water from other parts of the island. The local community helped maintain the mareta, while a designated maretero looked after the reservoir and ensured that the rules governing the use of its water were followed.
In the 17th century, there were three public maretas in the Teguise area. Mareta de la Villa was intended for people, while the other two were used mainly for animals. During severe water shortages, however, these reservoirs were also reserved for the island’s inhabitants.
The Gran Mareta served the local population for centuries. In 1963, it began to be partially filled in.
🎯 GPS: 29.0603, -13.5597 – site of the former Gran Mareta de Teguise
💡 Did you know?
People travelled to the Gran Mareta for water from different parts of Lanzarote. The water was loaded into waterskins, containers and barrels carried by camels. According to historical sources, around 250 camels a week would usually arrive here. When the mareta was being cleaned, some of them brought stones to reinforce its walls and carried water away on the return journey.
⛰️ Water Hidden in the Mountains
Rainwater was not collected only on the surface. Water seeping through volcanic rock was trapped above less permeable layers, creating small underground water reserves. The most important area for extracting this water was the Famara massif.
⛏️ Water Galleries
To reach the water, galleries – horizontal tunnels cutting through water-bearing layers – were dug into the slopes. Their carefully planned gradient allowed the collected water to flow out naturally by gravity.
The first major gallery in Famara began to be excavated in 1926 in Barranco del Rincón de la Paja. It eventually reached a length of 1,383 metres and initially produced around 10 litres of water per second. However, the most important galleries were constructed during the 1950s and 1960s.
A major breakthrough came in 1953, when a system carrying water from the Famara galleries to Arrecife was completed. For the first time on Lanzarote, a town received water through a distribution network.
💡 Did you know?
As late as the mid-20th century, more than 50 camels and donkeys arrived at the Famara galleries every morning to carry water to different parts of Lanzarote. Local residents also came to collect water in their own containers.
🚢 When Water Became Critically Scarce
During years of drought, the water stored in aljibes and maretas, together with supplies from wells and water galleries, was not enough to meet the needs of Lanzarote’s inhabitants. Shortages became particularly severe as the island’s population grew and demand for water increased.
One solution was to bring water to the island by ship. It was delivered mainly to the port of Arrecife, from where it was then distributed. During the 20th century, transporting water by sea became an important emergency measure for supplementing the island’s limited supplies.
The situation was particularly difficult during the 1950s and early 1960s. The galleries in Famara were expanded, reservoirs and a water distribution network were built, yet there was still not enough water available. This growing problem eventually led to the search for a solution that would free Lanzarote from its dependence on rainfall, underground water reserves and supplies brought in by ship.
🌊 The Breakthrough – Lanzarote Begins Producing Water from the Sea
The real breakthrough came in the early 1960s. Faced with growing water shortages, entrepreneurs Manuel Díaz Rijo and José Antonio Rodríguez Martín decided to use a solution that was pioneering in the Canary Islands at the time – seawater desalination.
In 1964, the Termolanza plant began operating in Arrecife. It was the first large-scale desalination plant in the Canary Islands designed to supply water to the population. It used multi-stage flash distillation (MSF), a technology based on evaporating and condensing water rather than the reverse osmosis process widely used today.
The plant could initially produce around 2,300 m³ of fresh water per day, while also generating electricity. For the first time, Lanzarote had a source of water that did not depend on rainfall or the island’s limited natural water reserves.
💡 Why was this so important?
Desalination did more than solve the problem of water scarcity. It also created the conditions for the further development of Arrecife, the island’s infrastructure, its growing population and, later, tourism. Lanzarote began making use of the one resource it had in abundance – the waters of the Atlantic.
⚙️ How Is Fresh Water Produced from Seawater?
Modern desalination plants on Lanzarote mainly use reverse osmosis. Water taken from the Atlantic is first filtered to remove suspended particles and other impurities, then forced under high pressure through special membranes.
The membranes retain salts and most dissolved substances while allowing water molecules to pass through. This produces two streams: desalinated water and a more concentrated brine, which is discharged from the plant.
The desalinated water then undergoes further treatment and remineralisation before being sent to storage tanks and the water distribution network.
🌊 Atlantic Ocean → 🔎 filtration → ⚙️ reverse osmosis → 💧 treatment → 🚰 water supply network
💡 Is desalinated water salty?
No. The membranes remove the vast majority of the salt. So the distinctive taste of tap water on Lanzarote does not mean that the water supplied to homes is simply “diluted seawater”.
🚰 Where Does Lanzarote’s Tap Water Come from Today?
Today, more than 90% of Lanzarote’s water comes from seawater desalination.
🥛 Can You Drink Tap Water on Lanzarote?
Yes. Water supplied through the public network is drinking water and is subject to sanitary controls. The network operator confirms that it meets the requirements for water intended for human consumption. It is soft and low in minerals.
🌱 Where Does the Water for Plants Come From?
Both desalinated water and reclaimed wastewater are used for irrigation. The island has a separate distribution network for this water, and supplies for agriculture are being increased – in 2025, for example, a new plant began producing 2,500 m³ of desalinated water per day for irrigation.
🍇 How Does La Geria Manage with Almost No Irrigation?
The traditional vineyards of La Geria use picón – a porous volcanic material that absorbs moisture from the air and reduces evaporation from the soil. The vines are planted in hollows protected from the wind by low stone walls.
👉 La Geria – Vineyards on Volcanic Soil
🏨 How Much Water Does Lanzarote’s Tourism Industry Use?
Tourism is the largest consumer of supplied water on the island. According to data used in the Lanzarote Hydrological Plan, the tourism sector accounted for around 44.5% of consumption, compared with 35.2% for households and a further 2.5% for golf courses.
This shows why the development of desalination was so important for the growth of tourism on Lanzarote as well.
♻️ What Happens to Water After It Is Used?
Wastewater is sent to treatment plants, and some of the treated water undergoes further reclamation before being used again. This allows part of Lanzarote’s water supply to be reused rather than lost after a single use.