Water quality in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Santa Cruz de Tenerife has completed the new Los Alisios wastewater pumping station, part of the Zero Discharge Plan, to improve the capacity and reliability of the south-west district sewer network and reduce the risk of coastal discharges.

The project involved an investment of approximately €7.18 million. The new station increases wastewater pumping capacity and forms part of a network of new infrastructure including works in Añaza, Acorán and elsewhere in the municipality. It is one measure within a broader municipal programme and does not mean every wastewater or discharge problem in Santa Cruz has automatically disappeared.

Investment: 7,18 M€

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Town Council, through Emmasa, is running the zero-discharge project, with a cited investment of more than EUR 14 million. Completed actions include the Taganana treatment plant, the conversion of pumping stations in San Andrés and along the Añaza-Acorán-Alisios corridor, and the removal of several discharge conduits (one in San Andrés, two on the south-west coast and three in Anaga: Almáciga, Roque de Las Bodegas and Tachero). In May 2026 the council gave 1 August as the date on which zero discharge was expected to be reached. This is an announced target, not a confirmed result: the expansion of the Buenos Aires treatment plant, a responsibility of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, is still pending. MiCharco does not record zero discharge as achieved until there is official confirmation.

The Cabildo is advancing six major hydraulic projects across Tenerife as part of a sanitation and wastewater treatment programme aimed at improving wastewater treatment, reducing discharges into the sea and increasing the reuse of treated water.

The new Taganana wastewater treatment plant was inaugurated to serve Taganana, Roque Las Bodegas and Almáciga. The facility replaces older sanitation solutions and forms part of efforts to reduce untreated wastewater pressure in the Anaga coastal area.

This infrastructure action does not in itself imply any change in current bathing-water quality.

Investment: Aproximado / Approximate

The wider Tenerife sanitation programme was expanded to cover major regional systems including Arona Este, Tenerife Oeste, Acentejo, Granadilla and Valle de La Orotava, together with further works in Puerto de la Cruz and future infrastructure in Isla Baja.

This infrastructure action does not in itself imply any change in current bathing-water quality.

The European Commission took Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union over failures to comply with Directive 91/271/EEC on urban waste water treatment. The case covers several agglomerations in Tenerife, among them Adeje-Arona, Añaza, Candelaria, Golf del Sur, Guía de Isora Litoral, La Esperanza-La Laguna Sur-Santa Cruz-Valles, Puerto de Santiago-Playa la Arena, San Isidro-Litoral, Sueño Azul and Valle de la Orotava.

An infringement procedure is brought against Spain and describes unfulfilled obligations at agglomeration level, not the water quality at a beach on a given day. The required works and connections fall to different administrations.