The lack of rain in the Islands leads to proposing alternatives such as desalination plants. Domingo Sáenz, ULL agricultural engineer, explains that these are not used only for ocean water. So, desalination is becoming standard practice in aquifer and well processes. This is because there is not enough rainfall to “clean” the excess of salts that segregate the volcanic soils of the Archipelago.
However, the engineer states that this process subtracts important nutrients and elements for the soil. Therefore, “they should be added after the water has passed through the desalination plant.” In addition, it highlights that the insular water has around 2 or 3 grams of salt per liter, compared to 34 grams in the ocean. This explains the high cost of marine desalination plants, given the large amount to extract from this element.
Saenz participates in a project in Buenavista del Norte To define how much salt do the banana trees support. The initiative aims to optimize desalination plants to the needs of this crop. This allows to have a clear idea of the level of desalination so that the plant is healthy, since the greater the amount of salts to extract, the higher the cost of this process.
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