Data from Spain's health ministry indicate that five municipalities in Mallorca do not have water supply suitable for human consumption in any of their population centres - Ariany, Costitx, Santanyi, Sineu and Vilafranca.
Four others - Felanitx, Manacor, Santa Margalida and Sencelles - do not have suitable supply for all population centres. As an example, the water in Can Picafort is suitable, but in Santa Margalida itself, it is not. In Manacor, where the town hall is aware of the deficiencies, supply of suitable water is a priority objective for the current administration.
The health ministry monitors water for human consumption for the whole of Spain through an online data analysis system and presents an annual report on the quality of drinking water in Spain. Quality controls measure indicators such as temperature, chemicals, pesticides and radioactive substances. The most frequent issues are related to changes in temperature, changes in microbiological parameters (59.5% of them due to legionella) and changes in different chemical parameters (21.1% correspond to uranium).
This is not the case in Mallorca, where the high presence of nitrates is the main cause of the water not being suitable for human consumption. "The concentration of nitrates in groundwater and surface water is usually low, but chloramination could cause the formation of nitrates in the distribution system if the formation of chloramine is not properly controlled."