The 70 Balearic rivers that we only remember when it rains

Last September 27th was World Rivers Day and in the Balearic Islands almost no one remembered it. Perhaps because we think that we do not have rivers here. But we do have them: they are our torrents, which the Hydrological Plan recognizes as water bodies in the river category. There are 70 of them, totaling about 550 kilometers. We only talk about them when a flash flood arrives and the water reminds us of where it used to pass before we built over it. Once the storm has passed, they return to oblivion.

In times of flash floods, it is necessary to remember that torrents exist all year round, not just when they flow full. Most are temporary rivers, with a natural hydrological regime that alternates between floods and dry periods, but even when they carry no water, they are living ecosystems that connect the mountains to the sea. And not so long ago, some carried water all year round. The elderly remind us that the Santa Eulària river was not the only one. A historian explained to us how the Llavanera torrent fed the Feixes all year round, and a resident of Deià recently reminded us how, in the summers of his childhood, he used to bathe in the cove and play at building dams at the mouth of the torrent.

And we often talk about it to ask for them to be cleaned. But managing flash floods is not about cleaning torrents. The Júcar Hydrographic Confederation reminds us: riparian vegetation holds the banks, slows down the water and smooths out the floods, and a completely clean riverbed can aggravate damage downstream. The damage is mainly due to the occupation of flood-prone areas and infrastructure that reduces drainage capacity. In the Balearic Islands, from 2018 to 2025, the General Directorate of Water Resources has awarded 25.7 million euros in emergency works after three flood episodes, and only 5 in planned investment in riverbeds, mostly in walls and canalizations. For every euro planned, five have had to be awarded urgently. It should be the other way around: investing in gaining river space, which reduces the force of the water and the damage.

At the Water Alliance we have looked at how our torrents are doing, and there is no good news. According to our review of the new Hydrological Plan, currently in process, seven out of every ten evaluated torrents are not in good condition. In the current plan, it was a little over half. In Menorca, nine out of ten. In Ibiza, three of the four studied: the Prat, Sant Josep and the Font. And the river section of Santa Eulària and the Llavanera could not be evaluated because they were dry.

We must be cautious, because the new diagnosis of the plan comes from a single sampling, and for some streams there was no previous data, but today's portrait is clear: almost all of those that fail do so in the life that lives there, the invertebrates and the algae. Chemical pollution is also a concern. Glyphosate exceeds the standard in 14 streams: in Mallorca, la Riera, Coanegra, Hortella, Manacor, na Borges, Son Real, Son Bauló, Solleric, Pina and Búger; in Menorca, la Cova, Cala en Porter and the one in el Mercadal, and in Eivissa, the one in el Prat. And mercury, in seven: in Mallorca, la Fosca, na Borges, Son Real, Son Bauló and Manacor; and in Menorca, na Bona and the one in el Mercadal. We name them all because, despite the existing rules and recommendations, we continue to seriously contaminate our territory.

And time is running out. The current plan set 2027 as the target for 25 torrents to reach good status, and today only four have achieved it. The new plan acknowledges that 54 of the 70 torrents are at high risk of not reaching it. Everything indicates that we will once again reach the deadline of the European Water Framework Directive with our homework undone.

To change this situation, we propose treating the torrents as what they are, our rivers, which we cannot lose, and working with nature. This means knowing better all the watercourses of the Islands, not just carrying out a one-off campaign for each planning cycle; it also implies reducing the arrival of herbicides, nitrates, and discharges, and restoring riparian vegetation. And the most important and still difficult thing: it is necessary to recover the aquifers, which feed the sources of the torrents. A torrent that is always dry is the red traffic light for our aquifers, and it will not change color if we do not recover them. And above all, it is urgent to gain fluvial space to recover ecosystems and reduce the force of flash floods. The new Hydrological Plan and the European Nature Restoration Regulation are the opportunity to do so with measures and budget, but political will is needed, absent until now, beyond the announcements.

Torrents are not just a problem when it rains. They are our rivers, and they deserve attention 365 days a year.