WRITTEN QUESTION P-0360/00

by Jean Lambert (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(4 February 2000)

Subject: Construction of a water bottling plant in Taguluche, La Gomera island (Canaries)

The Canaries Government has declared plans for a treated water bottling plant, at Taguluche, La Gomera island, in the municipal district of Valle Gran Rey, to be a project of public and social interest. The proposed construction site is a listed rural conservation area; its location also coincides with an area called Taguluche which the Canaries Government is proposing for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network(1), reference number ES7020108, which coincides geographically with the area intended for construction.

The application for a declaration of public utility cannot go forward, under Canaries regional law, because the law states that building or development schemes of public utility or social interest can in no case be taken to mean industrial developments in a rural environment(2).

The social interest of the project is also questionable, since it creates seven jobs (as the plan itself specifies) by infringing the rights of 116 proprietors of the water and their guarantees of cultivating the land. Furthermore, the island of La Gomera does not have an industrial tradition, still less as a water bottling operation, and the plant concerned would be a private, profit-making business set up with public funds. And according to expert reports, water bottling is already getting out of hand in the Canaries.

As a report by the deputy adviser for the environment in the Canaries Government regional planning department acknowledges, there has been no detailed environmental impact assessment for the project in question, to take account of the collection of spring water and its impact on traditional farming in the area. It even admits that the works will affect the Lomo des Carretón environmental protection area, which is also included in the sites of Community importance under reference number ES7020037. It says that the bottling plant will draw water from three springs which their proprietors use to irrigate the land(3).

There is thus no impact statement in compliance with the guidelines of the Community directives. The declaration of both areas as sites of Community importance is based on Criterion 1, the conservation of priority habitats and species, among them the Phoenix canariensis palm. If this scheme were to go ahead, the bottling plant would obviously affect the conservation of this species of palm and local agricultural land, by cutting off the scarce water supply from natural springs in the area.

Does the Commission not agree that the Taguluche bottling plant scheme does not comply with Community law on environmental impact assessments?

Does the Commission think the construction of an industrial establishment as proposed is compatible with conservation of the areas proposed for the Natura 2000 network as sites of Community importance?

(1) See Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

(2) See Law 5/1987 of 7 April on Urban Planning in Rural Areas, and Law 9/1999 of 13 May on Canaries Regional Planning. Law 12/1990 on Canaries Water also applies.

(3) If the bottling plant scheme went ahead it would imperil farming in Taguluche by depriving farms of their water for irrigation. A petition against the scheme has been submitted to the European Parliament (No 24/2000).

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2000)

The conservation areas of Taguluche and Lomo del Carretón, 140 and 263 hectares respectively, have been included by the Spanish authorities on their national list of potential sites of Community interest for integration in the Natura 2000 network, in accordance with Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(1).

With regard to the planned construction of a bottling plant at Taguluche, in the municipal district of Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera island, the Canaries, Spain, the Commission would inform you that it has received a complaint on the same subject, the reference number being P-1999/4875.

The dossier has been presented for consideration by the Commission as to whether the project mentioned by the Honourable Member would have a significant impact on the sites in question in the light of the objectives of Directive 92/43/EEC, in which case the procedure mentioned in Article 6 of that Directive must be applied.

The Commission, in its role as guardian of the Treaties, will take the necessary measures to ensure conformity with Community law in the case at issue.

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.