Water and Energy Consumption of the Tourist Sector in the Canary Islands

Manuel Hernndez-Surez Canary Islands Water Center Spain

desalinated water for the tourist sector.

Figure 1 Water consumption of hotels and resorts in the Canary.

Liters per accomodation/day

Materials and Methods

Introduction
The tourist industry started to develop in the Canary Islands in the mid sixties. At that time, there were only minor concerns about potential scarcity of water. Still a research project funded by the Unesco in the early seventies clearly suggested that the groundwater reserves of Gran Canaria were being overexploited, and future water availability for the increasing population was uncertain. The tourist industry, however, has managed to establish itself succesfully on the island based mainly on the availability of water thru desalination. Developments on desert islands such as Lanzarote and Fuerteventura have also shown the viability of using desalination as a sole source for water. This paper discusses the relevance of tourist water use for each island of the archipelago. It deepens into the evolution of water consumption for the island of Gran Canaria and discusses briefly the situation in Lanzarote. Finally it presents some figures on the trend in energy consumption of

Statistical data on water consumption of hotels on the islands have been provided by several water companies operating in the archipelago, as well as by direct hotel owners. Data on energy consumption were provided by the local power company. General data on water supply and water sources were obtained from official publication as well as from a recent survey on desalination carry out by the Canary Islands Water Center. The figures prior to 1950 are estimates based on the author own judgement.

Results and discussion

As shown on Figure 1, water consumption of the tourist sector varies according to the type of accomodation provided. Due to the type of facilities existing on the islands, the average values on the Canary Islands can be considered to be around 280 L per accomodation per day. However, a number much higher is usually used for estimating the tourism related water demand. This additional amount, more than doubles the direct accomodation water use.

Thus an average number of 600 liters per accomodation and day is used as a standard value for planning purposes (Figure 2). Figure 3 shows the percentage water consumption of the tourist sector for each island at the present time. The figure clearly shows the importance on tourism in the water consumption of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. It also shows the relative small percentage (around 10%-11%) that represents tourism water use in Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
Figure 2 Direct and related water consumption of the tourist . Figures used for planning purpose

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Figure 3 Percentage water consumption of the tourist sector on each island Total water consumption on each island = 100%

Figure 4 Evolution of water production and population demand (1970 perpective) Hm3/year

Because water demand by the tourist sector is concentrated con certain coastal areas, it has had to compete with already existing users, in most cases in a condition of reducing availability water. This was the conflicting view that was transmitted from a Unesco study carried out in the 70 (Spa 15) and shown on Figure 4. According to this study Gran Canaria was heading toward severe water conflicts in the 90. Still, as shown on Figure 5 for the case of Gran Canaria, tourism has grown and consequently its water supply. But not by competing for groundwater reserves but by finding an independent and reliable source in desalination of sea water. Thus the picture of water production on the island of Gran Canaria has dramatically change in the past 20 years (Figure 6), giving now a picture

that hardly anyone could have visualized in 1970. This new sources of water (desalination and reuse) have contributed to accomodate the development of tourism as well as agriculture and the ever increasing population (Figure 7). The situation is more dramatic in Lanzarote (Figure 8) where tourism represents about 50% of the water demand on the island, and more than 100% of it from desalination. Figure 9 shows the percentage of energy consumption for desalination on each island of the archipelago. It clearly depicts the dependency of each island on this technology. The decrease in energy consumption per cubic meter sea water desalinated has been quite significant in the past 25 years. This is shown on Figure10. Figure 10 also shows the difference between the average energy consumption on the

archipelago and that of the best available technology. As can be expected there is always a certain lag between both figures. By multiplying these average energy consumption values for each year, by the amount of water desalinated in the tourist sector of Gran Canaria at that year, a curve can be obtained that shows the increase in energy consumption for desalination of the tourist sector in the past 25 years. As shown on Figure 11, this curve levels off in the year 2000, due to the strong impact of the energy savings devices attached to the reverse osmosis units. The vision of the 70on water resources could probably be extrapolated to the present energy situation (Figure 12). In the same manner, it could also be visualized a transformation of the energy sources by the year 2050 similar to that occured in the water sector (Figure 13).

Figure5 Tourism water supply and desalination Hm3/year

Figure6 Evolution of water production (year 2000 perspective) Hm3/year

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Figure 7 Evolution of water demand (year 2000 perspective)

Hm3/year

Figure 8 Evolution of water demand (year 2000 perspective) Hm3/year

Figure 9 Consumo energtico de la desalacin en cada isla.

Consumo total de energia en cada isla=100%

Figura11 Evolution of total energy consumption for desalination

Hm3/year year Gwh/ Kwh/m
3

Figure 10 Evolution of energy consumption per m3 desalinated sea

Figura12 Evolution of energy production and population energy demand (year 2000 perspective?)

Conclusions
It is concluded from this analysis that desalination, and in particular reverse osmosis coupled with energy savings devices, has made it possible for the tourist industry of the Canary Islands to grow and expand beyond what was sustainable by nature. This introduces a new variable in the limits of development, expandability of natural resources, and carrying capacity of the environment. It is believed that the experience in the Canaries will trigger rapid developments in other dry areas. Thus more studies should be conducted on the environmental impact of these type of developments to counteract potential negative effects on land and water resources. Although still very dependent on energy, the results of this analysis have shown that recent developments in desalination has made it possible to substancially reduce the energy required to satisfy tourism water demand. However, it is probable that new sources of energy, other than fuel oil, will have to be provided in order to maintain the presente rate of growth.

Figura13 Evolution of energy production (2050 perspective?)

Produccin de energa

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