Algaida claims to the Council not to use water from the town to clean the Manacor road

AlgaidaThe water crisis in Pla de Mallorca is entering a new phase in terms of savings due to the lack of water resources in the region. The Algaida City Council yesterday approved a motion by the PSIB governing team, through which the plenary session calls on the Consell de Mallorca to urgently stop using water from the municipality's aquifers for cleaning and maintenance tasks on the Manacor road (Ma-15). The motion was unanimously approved by all parties present in the plenary session: PSIB, PP, and MÉS per Algaida.

The document goes further and, in one of its agreements, also requests that the same measure be applied to the sections of the road and roundabouts within the municipal terms of Montuïri and Vilafranca.

In this regard, it warns that the Algaida City Council is aware of the existence of three water intake points used by the Consell de Mallorca's Roads Department along the Manacor road corridor, located in the municipal terms of Algaida, Montuïri, and Vilafranca de Bonany, "intended for the maintenance of the road network and associated green areas".

Thus, the City Council, led by the mayor, Margalida Fullana, explains that "in a context marked by a lack of rain, rising temperatures, and increasing pressure on water resources, responsible water management must be a priority shared by all public administrations".

In this sense, the motion argues that "if citizens in general, farmers, and ranchers are asked to be careful in their water consumption, it is evident that administrations must also use water responsibly".

Truckloads on the road

The municipality's request is justified by the fact that the intake point located on the Manacor road, within the municipal district of Algaida, "has even required external water supplies by tanker trucks to maintain its availability".

The alternative proposed by the motion is to use reclaimed water from treatment plants or other sources that reduce pressure on aquifers to carry out the necessary maintenance and cleaning tasks on the road.

The motion requests the Council to instruct the concessionary company responsible for the maintenance of the PAMASA (Palma Manacor SA) highway, to review the water consumption criteria for the maintenance of green areas and road infrastructure.

Maximum alert

It should be remembered that last June the Algaida City Council decreed a state of "maximum alert" in a message to the population, demanding that the population be measured in its use of water. At that time, it reported that punctual consumption records of 69,800 liters per hour were detected in the municipality. Curiously, the highest consumption moments were concentrated especially during the evenings and at night, supposedly for watering gardens, cleaning terraces, and filling swimming pools.

Given this situation, the City Council recalled that, as it also does in the motion approved yesterday, that "Pina and Randa depend exclusively on the water we extract from municipal wells and underground aquifers. We have no other own source of supply".