El Cabildo de Fuerteventura finaliza la restauración de la charca de Los Sorribos

The work was carried out in coordination with the Tuineje City Council and the Insular Water Council of Fuerteventura

Located in Tesejerague, it is part of the municipality’s drainage systems network, «our water tradition»

The Fuerteventura Island Council has completed the conditioning of the Los Sorribos pool in Tesejerague, with the installation of a drainage breakwater. This work, like the other nine infrastructures of the traditional drainage systems network in Tuineje, was carried out by the Council, through the Department of Works and Machinery, in coordination with the City Council and the Insular Water Council of Fuerteventura (CIAF).

The island president, Lola García, points out that, within the actions carried out by the Council in hydraulic matters, «it is important to focus part of the efforts on recovering the systems for surface water use, a valuable element that allows us to preserve such a necessary resource as water.»

Councilor Blas Acosta recalls that pools, gavias, and maretas «are our water tradition.» «These traditional hydraulic works have been recovered following the original techniques of construction on dry land and using materials from the area, so their visual impact is minimal and their integration into the landscape is practically total.»

For the Water Councilor, Adargoma Hernández, «it is important to work on improving the different traditional drainage systems distributed throughout the entire island territory, recovering their reservoir capacity, rainwater collection, and aquifer recharge.»

The Works and Machinery operators started by removing weeds, garbage, and debris accumulated by the runoff in the Los Sorribos pool basin to restore its original capacity. They continued with improvements on the earth slopes to strengthen them and, finally, enabled an effective drainage system to ensure controlled water circulation in case the pool capacity is exceeded.

The traditional drainage systems recovered by the Department of Works and Machinery protect infrastructures, urban areas, and dispersed areas from floods, in addition to being a very valuable element to conserve rainwater and help replenish the island’s aquifers.

Tuineje currently has several drainage systems based on traditional hydraulic works. Together, they form a network of traditional drainage systems with 10 infrastructures in different channels, including pools and ‘desarenadores’, with the recently recovered Los Sorribos pool being the tenth piece of the network.

This network is formed by ‘desarenadores’ 1 and 2 in the Tarajalejo valley, the Rosa de los James pool, the El Cardón 1 and 2 pools and the El Cardón ‘desarenador’, the Diego Alonso pool, and the Los Adejes 1 and 2 pools.

The network of traditional drainage systems

The ‘desarenador’ of the Tarajalejo valley has a capacity for 25,000 cubic meters of containment (plus another privately owned ‘desarenador’ of smaller dimensions upstream).

Its largest example is the Rosa de los James pool. With a capacity for over 100,000 cubic meters of water, it extends over about 30,000 square meters. The intervention of the Works and Machinery Service and the Insular Water Council has improved its slopes upstream and downstream, thus acquiring greater stability of the structure. The works also included the construction of a new spillway protected by a stone breakwater. It protects urbanized areas in the Tarajalejo valley from flooding.

The El Cardón drainage system, consisting of two pools at the heads of two ravines (one with a capacity for 8,000 cubic meters and another with space to collect 16,000 cubic meters of water) that drain into the Montaña Hendida ravine. This ravine continues downstream and connects with the Bácher ravine, where the third part of the system is located, a ‘desarenador’ with a capacity for 12,000 cubic meters of water. It protects dispersed homes in these ravines from floods.

The Diego Alonso pool, privately owned, has a capacity for about 15,000 cubic meters of water. The Works and Machinery Service and the Insular Water Council have reinforced its structure, cleared sediment from the bottom, and improved its spillway. It is worth noting that the surplus materials were used to repair gavias downstream, multiplying the rainwater retention capacity in that channel and the aquifer recharge.

The network also includes the Los Adejes drainage system. Its two pools are located in the same basin at different levels. This strategic arrangement, along with the provision of spillways, allows the excess water in pool 1 to reach pool 2 by gravity, thus doubling the use of rainwater. Los Adejes 1 and Los Adejes 2 have a combined capacity of 30,000 cubic meters of water. This drainage system is a safety element against sudden floods for inhabited areas downstream. Places like Tirba, Violante, Diego Alonso, and Piedra Hincada.