The Balearics at the limit: all islands consume more water than assigned

PalmaThe Balearic Islands consume 22 cubic hectometers of water more than assigned by the current hydrological plan for urban and residential consumption in rural land. This means that the Archipelago exceeds the water extraction limit from aquifers by 8.5% in Mallorca, 15.4% in Ibiza, 35.5% in Menorca, and 70.8% in Formentera, according to the Water Alliance.

The data are part of the 2025 report from the Balearic Islands Water Observatory, which compares the estimated extractions for the fourth hydrological planning cycle (2028-2033) with the assignments established in the currently in force 2022-2027 Hydrological Plan. According to the entity, none of the four islands remain within the volume of water legally assigned to them.

The Water Alliance has warned of this situation at a particularly delicate time for the Archipelago's water reserves, which stood at 39% of capacity in July, six points less than the previous month. The entity considers this decrease to be a consequence of "chronic overexploitation of aquifers", sustained mainly by urban and residential consumption in rural land. In contrast, agricultural use is 15.5% below the water assigned to it.

36 out of 88 groundwater masses are in poor condition

The organization warns that the current situation fails to meet the objectives of the European Union's Water Framework Directive (WFD), which establishes that hydrological plans should not allocate more than 80% of the available resource of each water body. According to the Alliance, the water extracted above this threshold is a volume that aquifers cannot replenish.

In total, 36 out of the 88 groundwater bodies in the Balearic Islands, 40.9%, are in poor condition, 7.6 points more than in the previous cycle.

The spokesperson for the Water Alliance, Rafael Tur, assures that the decline in reserves "is not an isolated event of this summer," but the result of "chronic overexploitation" which, he denounces, is maintained by unlimited urban growth and has been aggravated by the new Omnibus Law.

The entity calls for limiting urban growth and reversing the Omnibus Law, accelerating the renewal of supply networks to reduce leaks and making the most of desalination in Mallorca and Menorca.

Mallorca: the worst July since 2016

In Mallorca, reserves stood at 39% in July, the lowest level for this month since 2016. Of the island's 64 groundwater bodies, 34 extract more water than allocated by the Hydrological Plan.

In absolute terms, the Pont d'Inca water body, which supplies Palma and the metropolitan area, exceeds its allocation the most, with 2.29 hm³ more. In relative terms, the most extreme case is Santanyí, which extracts 131% more than the assigned volume.

The lowest reserves are concentrated in Pla and Artà. Son Real is at 20.9% capacity; Sant Llorenç, at 36.8%, and Son Servera, at 39.2%.

Regarding uses, public supply accounts for 55.6% of Mallorca's consumption, while dispersed consumption on rural land accounts for another 22.4%.

Losses in supply networks are also one of the main problems. 41 out of 52 Mallorcan municipalities exceed the 17% leakage rate that the Hydrological Plan sets as an objective for 2027. Campos leads the list, with 67.2%, followed by Esporles (58.7%), Maria de la Salut (52.8%), Artà (52.7%), and Ariany (51.2%).

Menorca exceeds its allocation by 35.5%

In Menorca, reserves are at 34% capacity and the most delicate situation is located in the Roca water mass, in Alaior, with an average reserve of 30.2%.

The most extreme case in the Archipelago is found in Ciutadella, where the extraction for urban supply alone reaches 3.60 hm³, above the 3.26 hm³ assigned by the plan for all uses combined.

Public supply accounts for 64.9% of the island's extractions, with 11.37 hm³. Although this consumption has been reduced by 19.8% since 2011, Menorca still exceeds its assigned water by 35.5%. Agricultural use, on the other hand, accounts for only 14.5% of the total.

The Alliance also points out the underutilization of desalination plants, network losses, and the lack of reuse of treated water. In Ciutadella, only 38.5% of the desalination plant's capacity is utilized, while losses reach 42.7% in Ferreries.

Ibiza: consumption in rural areas already exceeds urban consumption

In Ibiza, reserves stand at 42% and 12 of the island's 16 groundwater bodies extract more than allocated.

The Canar body is the one that most exceeds the allocation in absolute terms, with 0.48 hm³ more, while Cala Tarida does so in relative terms, at 184% above the assigned volume.

One of the figures that most concerns the entity is the evolution of dispersed consumption in rural land. While public supply has decreased by 3.4% since 2011, residential consumption in rural land has increased by 62.5% and now accounts for 37.7% of the total, almost as much as public supply, which accounts for 42.2%. The sum of extractions for residential and agricultural use in rural land reaches 9.8 hm³, above the 7.3 hm³ allocated to public supply.

Agricultural extraction, moreover, has grown by 83.1% between 2018 and 2023, even though the useful agricultural area of Ibiza represents only 14% of the territory, and exceeds the assigned volume by 1.45 hm³. The Alliance attributes part of this imbalance to homes located in rural land that have water concessions for agricultural use but which, in reality, dedicate the resource to residential consumption. Despite the pressure on aquifers, Ibiza's desalination plants operated in 2025 at 95.7% of their annual capacity and reached 113.4% during the month of August.