Tag Archives: Water

The Water Crisis in Menorca: Es Mercadal

Views: 4

The water supplied for the ordinary needs of the municipality of Es Mercadal comes from groundwater abstractions from the Sa Roca (1902M1) groundwater body. Piezometers show a downward trend since 2012.

According to data provided by the Water Resources Department and published by OBSAM, the s’Albaida aquifer had an average level of 41 metres above sea level in 2011. In 2025, the recorded level is 30 metres. These figures mean that the aquifer has lost 25% of its capacity in just 15 years.

Over the last decade, of the 13 monitoring points installed, 5 show a stable trend and 8 show a declining or sharply declining trend. None shows signs of recovery.

Continue reading The Water Crisis in Menorca: Es Mercadal →

Call for Water in Menorca: Ciutadella

Views: 1

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.

Continue reading Call for Water in Menorca: Ciutadella →

Call for Water in Menorca: Es Migjorn Gran and Ferreries

Views: 1

Menorca’s aquifers are going through one of the most delicate moments in their recorded history. The municipalities of Ferreries and Es Migjorn Gran record the highest percentage of losses in their water distribution networks. GOB has requested information to find out how this problem is being managed.

The official position is that desalination plants will solve the island’s water problems. But this has long been the strategy followed in Mallorca and Ibiza. When the condition of the aquifers on the neighbouring islands is examined, it becomes clear that desalination plants have not been used to reduce groundwater extraction, but rather to support continued urban and tourism growth. That is the reality.

For this reason, it is argued that unless limits are agreed beforehand, desalination plants become a passport to a model that exploits the territory and promotes an extractive economy.

Continue reading Call for Water in Menorca: Es Migjorn Gran and Ferreries →

Rains of Hope

Views: 103

Menorca lies on the 40th parallel of the northern hemisphere, one of the 180 imaginary horizontal lines that humans have drawn across the planet. A design that helps us locate a geographical point and also gives us an idea of climatic conditions. But sometimes science turns theory upside down.

We know that at parallel zero (the equator) it is usually hot, and that at number 90, both north and south, it is very cold. In between, there are progressive gradations.

Continue reading Rains of Hope →

The Government lowers water safeguards in new developments

Views: 31

The requirement to obtain a Water Resources report guaranteeing sufficient water supply for new urban developments has just been reduced by the Balearic Government. The move poses a particular threat to Menorca, where most water bodies are overexploited or contaminated. GOB considers the measure unconstitutional.

The new Law 4/2026 on urgent measures to accelerate strategic projects, also known as the omnibus law, approved by Parliament with the votes of PP and Vox on 26 May 2026, includes an additional provision allowing municipalities to approve or develop urban planning without requesting a prior water sufficiency report from the Directorate General for Water Resources.

This measure weakens the main environmental control over urban growth at the worst possible time. The so-called “strategic projects” law is also a strategy to try to unblock developments that are currently stalled due to reports stating that there is not enough water available.

Continue reading The Government lowers water safeguards in new developments →

Manifesto against Overcrowding and Proposals for Course Correction

Views: 16

Many people have asked to see the analysis of the issues that was read at last Saturday’s gathering on the 13th at the Biosphere Square, as well as the proposals that were put forward.

In response to this repeated request, we are providing the full text that was read. We hope it will help clarify concepts, improve conversations and seek real solutions.

We also hope it will help counter repeated attempts to divert attention to other issues, or to show that this is not an all-or-nothing debate. We are calling for limits to be placed on certain dynamics that are getting out of control and generating multiple negative effects.

Continue reading Manifesto against Overcrowding and Proposals for Course Correction →

Cala Galdana: ending impunity

Views: 163

For many years, the stream at Cala Galdana has suffered repeated pollution discharges. Numerous inspections have been carried out by different monitoring and enforcement bodies, yet the source of the periodic spills that alter the colour and smell of the water flowing from the Algendar ravine has still not been identified.

It is urgent that the municipalities of Ferreries and Ciutadella excavate inspection trenches along both sides of the stream and intercept any pipelines that do not serve a public purpose. Only then will it be possible to identify those responsible and put an end to the current situation of impunity.

Continue reading Cala Galdana: ending impunity →

Residents 1, Urban developments 0 – 13/06/26

Views: 62

It is difficult to get people who are spending a few days on holiday to understand that the place they are visiting has water problems. Perhaps they could get an idea if the surrounding context suggested it, but that is not the case.

The progressive loss of drinking water in Menorca is directly related to the economic development model that is being promoted. The resident population is making efforts to reduce consumption, but spending is increasing in tourist areas.

On Saturday, June 13, at 7:30 p.m., a protest action has been called in Biosphere Square in Maó. A great deal is at stake for the immediate future. Please help spread the call.

Continue reading Residents 1, Urban developments 0 – 13/06/26 →

The cross-cutting issue

Views: 23

Spring has begun, leaving behind meetings, conferences, studies and debates on important issues in Menorca. Menorca’s winter brings a remarkably active pace of events that encourage reflection and analysis. And in all these initiatives, when one takes a moment to think, a common factor emerges—one that runs through all these issues and fills them with a sense of concern.

We struggle to find solutions for aquifer management, access to housing, waste reduction and recycling, beach overcrowding, and the gradual loss of purchasing power.

Continue reading The cross-cutting issue →