10 On April 3, 2025, the public consultation on the initial documents for the development of the new hydrological plan for the Balearic Islands was opened. Six months later, the public consultation on the key issues of the future plan was launched, and it remains open until March 6. All of this is part of a complex and lengthy process governed by the European Water Framework Directive, the Water Law, and the Hydrological Planning Regulations. It will continue with the drafting and consultation of the proposed plan and, if all goes well, with the approval of the new hydrological plan in 2028. Four years of development for a plan with a six-year validity period (2028-2033). It can be said that hydrological planning is being developed with the strongest requirements for information and public participation in our autonomous community. Furthermore, this cycle of drafting, approval, and implementation of the hydrological plan is repeated, and this new hydrological plan will be the fourth. Meanwhile, the third Hydrological Plan for the period 2022-2027 is currently being implemented. The result will be new regulations governing water resource management and a new program of measures outlining the necessary actions to conserve and restore the health of the Balearic Islands' water bodies: aquifers, streams, wetlands, and coastal waters. Unfortunately, since the beginning of the new hydrological plan's development, it hasn't received much publicity from the relevant social and economic sectors, and participation in the initial participatory workshops has been minimal. Political leaders with water-related responsibilities have also had little involvement in the process. So far, the main conclusion is that the Hydrological Plan has generated little interest. This is nothing new; we have a weak culture of participation, both on the part of the public, who don't find their requests addressed during these processes, and on the part of our elected officials, who can enjoy greater freedom making decisions behind closed doors without having to adhere to a plan agreed upon with the public. An example of this latter point has been the push for a fourth desalination plant on the island of Ibiza. This action was not included in the program of measures of the current 2022-2027 Hydrological Plan, but it has been included as a priority measure by the regional government during this legislative term, despite the lack of any demand from Ibiza's civil society. This contradiction was evident at the last Ibiza Water Dialogue Forum we organized last autumn. This participatory space has been promoted by the Water Alliance for the past 10 years to foster a participatory culture, given the absence of other regulated and public spaces that promote debate and consensus on water issues on our island.

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