Water, the problem that no one wants to face

By now, it should be clear that surviving with our backs to the water crisis is no longer an option. We are facing a critical situation that constantly borders on drought: scant and disproportionate rainfall, depleted aquifers, and reservoirs at their lowest levels. Added to the natural water shortage is an extraordinary population growth that no one has wanted to address as a priority for years: more residents, more housing developments, more tourists, more pressure on a limited resource.

The current water emergency is not only the fault of the weather, nor even of consumers. The problem is political: there is a lack of courage to confront it. Network leaks are at scandalous levels, but no one wants to invest in replacing pipes because they think that digging up streets will lose votes. It is a renunciation of long-term management for fear of immediate unpopularity. No government official, whether municipal or regional, is truly addressing this emergency.

It's also necessary to open the debate on water prices. Despite the high cost of extraction, treatment, and desalination, it remains one of the cheapest resources. A fairer pricing system—with a reasonable fixed portion and a variable portion that penalizes waste—wouldn't be a punishment but a mechanism for education and shared responsibility. Experience demonstrates this: Sóller, with restrictions since September, has reduced its consumption by 11%. When the measures are clear, society responds.

However, we can't limit ourselves to emergency restrictions. We need to plan and prioritize. And this is where a key sector comes in: agriculture. The countryside needs water to survive, and without it, we will lose even more food sovereignty and territorial balance. Water policies must reserve water flows and establish clear priorities so that the burden of tourism and urban growth doesn't condemn farmers. Protecting agriculture also means protecting our ability to face the future.

In any case, the new climate normal means that exceptional circumstances are no longer exceptional. That's why structural investments—pipelines, desalination, reuse of treated water, aquifer recharge—must be combined with smart tariffs and citizen awareness campaigns. Failure to do so is to continue deceiving ourselves. And governments must choose: continue applying emergency patches and consuming scarce water resources, or make unpopular but essential decisions. Perhaps this means raising tariffs, but also investing in infrastructure and guaranteeing water for the countryside and for citizens. What is not an option is letting more time pass without trying to solve this. Water doesn't wait.