Living in an apartment without an elevator when you are 80 years old can be a problem, but it is even more so if you live in a city where the water that comes out of the taps is not good for drinking or cooking, and you depend on bottled water if you do not want to get sick. This is the case for Antònia, who does not have an osmosis system in her home and relies on her family network to be able to have drinking water. "At my age, I don't have the strength to carry jugs of water up the stairs and I'm afraid of falling," she explains. "I always have to keep after my family to see if they can go buy it for me and bring it up to our home. I feel bad about bothering them because I know they are very busy, but I have no other choice, because with this water I can't even boil potatoes," she adds.

"For decades, nitrates have acted like the dog in the manger, which neither eats the hay nor lets the ox eat it: their presence prevented drinking the water, but the problem was not perceived as urgent enough to mobilize the investments necessary to resolve it." This is asserted by Francesc Grimalt, the manager of the municipal company Serveis de l'Ajuntament de Manacor (SAM), which manages the water supply network. Manacor, with nearly 30,000 inhabitants in its urban center, is considered the most populous city in Spain that still does not have potable water in most of its residential network. Since 2015, work has been underway to modernize the water cycle network to control consumption and reduce leaks, in order to prepare the city for the postponed arrival of potable water to all the taps in the capital of the Llevant region.

At the Manacor agri-food estate, the bustle around the drinking water fountain installed by the City Council in 2021 does not stop. People go there to fill jugs because the water that flows from the taps has not been fit for consumption for more than forty years. With a population of about 30,000 inhabitants, Manacor is the most populous city in Spain that still does not have drinking water in the entire domestic network. In the Balearic Islands, nearly 145,000 people live in areas with water considered unfit for consumption or at risk.

The city councils of Campos and Ses Salines have alerted the population that the water from their public networks is not suitable for human consumption due to the high levels of sodium it contains. The councils have recommended not using it for drinking or cooking, although it can still be used for personal hygiene and household cleaning.

The tap water in sa Pobla is not suitable for human consumption until further notice, as reported this Thursday by the City Council. The Consistory has explained that the maintenance tasks programmed at the water treatment plant could not be completed within the planned timeframe due to reasons beyond the City Council's control.

The Inca City Council has begun renovation work on the drinking water reservoir at the Les Monges pass. This project aims to ensure the proper functioning of this strategic infrastructure for the municipality's water supply. The contract has been awarded to Obras Comas Beltran SL for €259,906.21 (VAT included). The total construction period will be five months, although the repair and waterproofing work inside the reservoir will be completed within a maximum of one month to guarantee the municipality's water supply at all times.

The Sineu Town Council continues to take steps to improve municipal infrastructure, this time focusing on the drinking water supply network, where an investment exceeding €200,000 will be made. The Council has put out to tender the project to replace a section of the drinking water network around the Plaza de la Quintana and the Plaza de los Reyes de Mallorca, an initiative supported by the 2024 Water Pact, with a budget of €184,134.44. In addition, the network on Jaume I Street will be renovated, with a budget of almost €45,000. The main objective of this project is to guarantee the urban water supply within the municipality and replace sections that currently have deficiencies or have become obsolete. The works will affect key points in the upper part of the town, including Llorito, Palma, and Toros streets, as well as the aforementioned Quintana and Reyes de Mallorca squares. Tomeu Mulet, mayor of Sineu, explains that "water losses in these areas had already been reduced a few years ago with the sectorization of the network, but even so, network renewal was advisable." Mulet also explains that "in addition to renewing the network, we will take the opportunity to repave all these areas." The plan includes the installation of new pipes and valves, as well as the construction of concrete manholes and inspection chambers to facilitate future maintenance of the system. This action complements the City Council's policies to reduce losses in the network and optimize the municipality's water resources, a growing priority in the context of water management in the Pla de Mallorca region.

The water in Maó is still not safe to drink a year after the crisis that erupted following the serious breakdown at the Malbúger plant. The latest analyses released by the opposition confirm this. In May, the networks of Malbúger, Turó, Sant Climent, and Grau-Cala Llonga still showed nitrate concentration levels above 50 milligrams per liter, the maximum limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for considering water drinkable.