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Menorca’s aquifers are going through one of the most delicate moments in their recorded history. Ciutadella is the municipality with the highest urban water consumption (and probably rural consumption as well) on the island. GOB has requested information from the Town Council to find out how this increasingly depleted resource is being managed.
Menorca’s aquifers are one of the island’s invisible treasures. Without them, the landscape would not be the same, nor would the quality of life resemble what it is today. This is a matter that deserves serious attention, as water reserves are currently at historic lows.
For these reasons, GOB is launching several initiatives focused on water.
The promise of solving the problem with desalination plants is an illusion that only serves to continue along a path of unlimited urban and tourism growth. Unless limits are agreed upon in advance, desalination plants become a passport to a model that exploits both the territory and the economy.
One only has to look at Mallorca and Ibiza, each with several desalination plants, yet both islands are more congested than Menorca, and their aquifers have been seriously damaged.
We are going through another summer in which the Island Council has refused to limit tourist vehicles. This results in renewed and intense human pressure on the island, requiring a water supply that we can no longer afford. Aquifers are lower than ever, and the most demanding part of the summer is still ahead.
It is time to demand that existing regulations be enforced, that effective water-saving policies be implemented, and that the inertia preventing real change be abandoned.
Ciutadella and water consumption
Ciutadella is the municipality that consumes the most water in Menorca. Its resident population is similar in size to Maó’s, but its urban development is less compact, and tourism pressure is significantly greater. Ciutadella consumes approximately twice as much water as Maó (graph: OBSAM).
As will be remembered, Ciutadella’s General Plan received negative reports because, despite having a desalination plant, there is not enough water to support the planned growth.
Last year, a specific instrument to manage the municipality’s water resources, known as the Sustainable Water Management Plan, was approved. It was adopted on 27 June 2025 with a series of conditions.
Among them, that during the first year of the Plan’s implementation, a municipal water-saving bylaw would be published, including measures to limit the construction of new swimming pools.
It also states that premises and homes undergoing renovations or refurbishment affecting plumbing must be required to install water-efficient plumbing systems.
As more than one year has now passed since the approval of the Plan, GOB has written to the Town Council requesting three specific pieces of information:
- How many swimming pools have been authorised in the municipality of Ciutadella since the Sustainable Water Management Plan was approved on 27 June 2025.
- In how many new construction or renovation applications affecting plumbing has the installation of water-efficient plumbing systems been required.
- The current stage of the municipal water bylaw, which, among other objectives, must include measures and options to reduce domestic water consumption.