The Balearic Islands would need 1.435 billion until 2035 to deal with the drought and the risk of floods

PalmaThe Balearic Islands would need an investment of about 1,435 million euros until 2035 to address structural water scarcity and the growing risk of flooding. This is one of the main conclusions of the report Strategy and investments for water efficiency and resilience in Spain, prepared by the consulting firm Typsa and the Association of Construction and Infrastructure Concessionaire Companies (Seopan), which places the Archipelago among the areas of the State “most vulnerable” to these phenomena.

The study points out that the Balearic Islands face “significant challenges” in modernizing and adapting hydraulic infrastructures, in a context marked by the reduction of conventional water resources, high climatic variability, and an especially intense water demand during the summer months.

Of the estimated investment, 1,011 million euros would be allocated to urban water cycle infrastructures, including the adaptation of treatment plants to current needs. The report also calculates 131 million for climate change adaptation measures, 38 million to improve monitoring of the integral water cycle, 25 million to meet environmental objectives in the public water domain, and six million for infrastructure within the framework of an eventual National Water Agreement.

126 million to reduce the risk of flooding

Regarding specifically the adaptation to climate change, the study calculates that 126 million euros would be necessary to execute structural flood risk management measures. To this item would be added 98 million for green infrastructure, focused on the conservation, maintenance, and improvement of riverbanks and the coastline.

The report warns that the Balearic Islands are among the areas most exposed to the risk of drought due to the reduction of conventional resources and climate variability. This situation, according to the authors, is aggravated by the strong seasonality of water demand, directly related to the weight of tourism and the increase in population during the summer months.

“The problem of water scarcity in Spain is no longer an exceptional phenomenon, but structural, and affects areas such as the Balearic Islands particularly intensely, where the demand for the resource is very high,” pointed out the president of Seopan, Julián Núñez.

More desalination and more efficient networks

Given this scenario, the report considers it necessary to reinforce the infrastructures that guarantee the security of the water supply in the Archipelago. Among the actions it proposes are the expansion and modernization of desalination capacity, the development of complementary water resources, and the improvement of the efficiency of supply networks.

The authors also call for "more budgetary effort with an adequate financial framework" to guarantee compliance with hydrological planning and to reinforce water security.

The diagnosis thus places the Balearic Islands before a double challenge: to guarantee the water supply in a territory especially dependent on limited resources and, at the same time, to adapt infrastructures to extreme episodes associated with climate change, such as floods.