Losing water when we have the least

As every summer, the Balearic Islands Government publishes data on water consumption and losses in the island municipalities' water supply networks. This year, these data were released in September, at the same time as the Government itself announced the entry into a drought alert for the island of Ibiza and a large part of the municipalities of the Pla de Mallorca region. The rest of the islands' territories are not entirely spared and have been in a worrying pre-drought alert situation for some time. Only Formentera is in a normal situation, largely because it does not depend on groundwater, given that 100% of urban water consumption and consumption on rural land is supplied with desalinated water. It could be said that without the desalination plant, Formentera would be hydrically dead. Or in other words, it's like having a patient living a normal life without knowing that they are completely dependent on technology and the associated energy dependence, with the risks that this entails.

But returning to the consumption and loss data, it is striking how urban water consumption continues to grow year after year across the islands, accelerating the overexploitation of aquifers and increasingly exposing us to a situation of chronic water shortages. But most worrying of all is how high water losses in the urban supply networks of many municipalities continue. This makes overexploitation even more severe because more water must be extracted due to all the water lost in the pipes on the way to our homes. An example is the Pla de Mallorca, where the aquifers are in poor condition and municipalities lose more than half of their drinking water along the way (52% in Maria de la Salut, 51% in Ariany, and 30% in Llubí). This situation is quite widespread in Mallorca, where the poor state of the aquifers and high losses in the networks are repeated (67% in Campos, 54% in Artà, and 35% in Sa Pobla). On the islands of Ibiza and Menorca, we also find this situation in the municipalities of Sant Josep, Santa Eulària, and Ciutadella. All of this produces a negative vicious cycle of continued overexploitation, leading, in many cases, to water cuts and loss of water quality in our taps.

Reading these data, it is also notable that many of these municipalities with high losses end up asking the Government for help to connect to the desalinated water network, as recently occurred in Sa Pobla and Ariany. But we must not forget that additional desalinated water would not be necessary if losses were below 17%, as established by the current Hydrological Plan of the Balearic Islands, as a mandatory target to be met by 2027. Using the health parallel again, it's like giving a sick person medicine. It's a trend that has been repeated throughout the islands: only when groundwater resources are depleted do desalinated water begin to be used as an alternative resource, but the renewal of the supply network is still pending after decades of lack of maintenance. It's sad to think that no one worried about the water lost along the way when water was available or very cheap.

Another reality we must not forget is that a large part of the water crisis suffered by many municipalities on the islands is not due to a lack of water, but rather to these losses in the supply network; this is what some call a "technical drought." An example is the Tramuntana mountain range in Mallorca, where aquifers are in good condition, but municipalities must implement water cuts or pressure reductions every summer. Thus, this summer, numerous municipalities in the mountains made the news due to a lack of water, although the real problem was that they were losing more than half of the water they extracted from their wells (59% in Esporles, 42% in Banyalbufar, and 40% in Fornalutx). Therefore, it is essential that municipalities accelerate their investments to resolve this water shortage they are experiencing. It is true that many municipalities are small and lack the human and technical resources to solve a long-standing problem, and for this reason, it is key that the island councils become more involved to support them, not only with investment but also with human resources. It's also good news that the Balearic Islands government has increased municipal aid from the money raised through the sustainable tourism tax, but, again, this financial assistance will be poorly implemented if city councils are not strengthened with human and technical resources.

A final issue to discuss behind these data is how, in many municipalities, losses occur in small private supply networks in residential areas and neighborhoods, which are not managed by municipal services and therefore require much less maintenance. A recent example is Palmanyola, which was historically managed by a family business and eventually had to be municipalized by the Bunyola City Council to ensure minimal maintenance. In Ibiza, there are many residential areas and neighborhoods with a history of small business management, but the local councils end up "rescuing" them once the networks are identified as needing significant investment. In Santa Eulària, this happened with Aigües del Fornàs, which supplied water to the town of Jesús and its surrounding areas, and is now being municipalized. In other municipalities, such as Sant Antoni, this has not yet been fully implemented, and this means that, although the municipal networks are performing well, the municipality's overall losses are above the allowable levels according to regional regulations.

But it's not all bad news, and it must also be said that many municipalities have managed to significantly improve their supply networks. Palma, Pollensa, Sóller, Calvià, and Andratx in Mallorca; Maó, Sant Luis, and Alaior in Menorca; and San Juan and Formentera in the Pitiusas have reduced their losses to achieve optimal network performance. It should also be noted that in many of these municipalities, desalinated water is consumed, and it's when water is expensive that efforts are made to ensure not a drop is wasted. The clearest example is Formentera, where 100% of the water supplied is desalinated, and network losses are only 14%. It is also very important not to forget that action must be accelerated throughout the entire urban water cycle. In planning and regulation, many municipalities still need to draft sustainable water management plans, savings ordinances, and new water tariff ordinances as a starting point. It is also essential that municipalities and the government have as their main objective the closing of the water cycle and the reuse of treated water for agricultural, urban, or even aquifer recharge uses. Unfortunately, all these measures are useless if there is no limit to the tourist saturation and urban growth that is the root of all the problems, not just water-related, that our islands suffer.