"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.