The lack of control of water in Menorca

PalmaMenorca consumes 35% more water than provided for by the Hydrological Plan of the Balearic Islands. It is, by far, the island that presents the greatest imbalance between the current reality and the maximum supply flow for urban and residential uses that, in theory, it should support. The report from the Water Alliance, which compares extractions with the quotas established by the Hydrological Plan, makes this very clear. The situation has gotten out of control, much more so than in Mallorca (which only exceeds the forecast by 8.5%) and Ibiza (15.4%).

This overconsumption, combined with the alarm created by the drop in water reserves in Menorca, which are only at 34%, has increased the awareness of institutions about the need to act. In a few weeks, more than half of the Menorcan town councils have imposed restrictions on the population, and the GOB has been in charge of reporting non-compliance. Especially in Sant Lluís, where it says it is common to see sprinkler irrigation over extensive areas of lawn, even though the City Council has prohibited it.

Agricultural license

Large water holders are in the spotlight. Not only because, finally, councils are modifying ordinances to penalize overconsumption, but also because practices that until now evaded the Administration's control are beginning to be suspected, allowing property owners to take advantage of an agricultural license to irrigate large areas or even swimming pools.

Let's take a case. A commercial company based in Madrid and represented by a French businessman in the tourism sector, François-Xavier Bourgois, is currently processing authorization to extract 10,000 cubic meters of water from the Biniparretxet estate (Sant Lluís) on the grounds that it will be used to irrigate two plots. Bourgois, who three years ago already requested permission from the City Council to renovate the farmhouses on the site, is the president of AMC Investissements, a company dedicated to operating hotels and other accommodations and holds ten positions in various commercial companies in the sector. The company now requesting the concession was incorporated in 2015. It is not recorded that it has ever been involved in farming.

Water Resources already authorized it in 2023 to irrigate one of the two plots in Sant Lluís because, as the promoter of the concession, it demonstrated that the land formed part of a priority agricultural holding. If it had not been able to prove that the water would be used to irrigate the plots, the concession would have been denied.

However, the permit was granted even though the affected groundwater mass is in "poor quantitative condition," according to the Hydrological Plan, which allows for exceptions in these cases and authorizes extractions of up to 10,000 cubic meters per year if they are for preferential agricultural holdings. And the tourist company in question is registered as such.

"It's the usual trick," says a source familiar with these proceedings. Commercial companies that, on paper, have nothing to do with agricultural activity, request water concessions as if they were for irrigating agricultural land, but then use it for other purposes. The fact that it is not an isolated case is demonstrated by the fact that, following complaints from GOB, three cases of agrotourism businesses in Alaior have been uncovered in recent years that had converted what should have been agricultural reservoirs into swimming pools to save water. This is what happened at the Torre Vella estate with seven swimming pools that should have been reservoirs, and in Sant Llorenç, with another nine.

A year ago, the Civil Guard closed an illegal well used by the Llucalari agritourism to extract 40,000 liters of water daily to irrigate the complex's 16 swimming pools. Despite Seprona's intervention, Water Resources did not close the well until December, once the season was over, and has authorized it again even though it is located less than 500 meters from the coast – something the law does not permit. It has fined the developer Llucalari Hotel SL only 5,700 euros. "It's a sick joke," said councilor Esteve Barceló, from Més per Menorca.

The Council has announced that it will commission a report to ascertain the current and future needs of the population with the aim of correcting the island's growth forecasts. The island government no longer accepts even its own study on tourist carrying capacity, which states that growth of 23,859 places is possible.

For the first time, it has established a coordination commission on water issues with all the municipalities with the idea of leading decision-making with an island and future vision. However, at the same time as it is taking these steps, the Council is losing direct powers that would have allowed it to intervene effectively in controlling water management in Menorca.

The coastal law promoted by the PP Government repeals Article 13 of the Biosphere Reserve Law, which provided for the transfer of water management powers to the Menorcan Council: from authorizing well concessions and extractions to controlling irrigation and aquifer exploitation and taking over treatment plants.

"This is a scandal, a mockery of the citizens of Menorca," denounces the GOB coordinator, Miquel Camps. "Dependence on Palma has been a management failure. Extractions have been granted far above real possibilities and control is nonexistent," he concludes. According to Camps, "given the situation of Menorcan aquifers, the Council must explain why they are promoting these new changes to the Reserve Law, which is one of the instruments that could help us. The public must be told what the reasons of general interest are for which the Council is promoting the modification. What is the explanation that leads to the conclusion that it is better for Menorca that everything continues to be (de)controlled from Mallorca".

The Minister of Territorial Planning, Núria Torrent, downplays it. “The article was not really applicable without the effective transfer of competence, which all island councils will have when it is formalized. It was a declaration that contributed nothing,” she reasons. “It is not the same to create a commission with all the mayors and have decision-making power as having to continue always depending on Palma,” laments the socialist deputy Marc Pons. “So far, only sacrifices are asked of the population: that they stop watering or washing their cars, that they receive less water pressure at home… And the Administration? Who leads and ensures, for example, that there are no illegal wells and a few do not consume authentic water absurdities?”, he asks. But for a few months now, it has no longer been mandatory for Water Resources to issue a report on water sufficiency before authorizing new developments.