On Monday, the PSIB-PSOE opposition Balearic socialist party called for ‘immediate’ action from the regional government to address the drought alert in the Pla de Mallorca - the rural heart of the island
At a press conference, after meeting with mayors, municipal spokespersons and general secretaries from Mallorca to analyse the drought situation affecting the Pla, the deputy spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group, Marc Pons, criticised the regional government not only for its ‘inaction’ in addressing a problem that ‘directly affects the quality of life of residents’, but also its ‘strategy to silence real and existing situations that are occurring today, especially in the Mancomunitat del Pla, but which’, he considered, ‘extend to a large part of the island of Mallorca and the Balearics as a whole’.
Pons pointed out that, based solely on the information made public by the government, the Mancomunitat del Pla de Mallorca is currently on drought alert. However, according to the socialist, ‘it should be added that even the government’s own experts, in their technical committee, describe it as an emergency situation’, which ‘obliges and would oblige the government to take urgent decisions without looking the other way’.
‘On the contrary,’ lamented the deputy spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group, ‘the government’s strategy has been to silence this information and not pass it on to the public, thereby avoiding urgent decisions that would allow part of the aquifers to be preserved, both through a reduction in consumption and the implementation of certain infrastructure measures’.
Pons accused the Regional Minister for the Sea and the Water Cycle, Juan Manuel Lafuente, of ‘looking the other way and avoiding any kind of debate’. For this reason, the PSIB-PSOE has demanded that the government take ‘immediate action, in coordination with the Mancomunitat del Pla’ so that ‘the measures approved both by the 2017 drought decree at the regional government level and by the drought plan approved by the Mancomunitat del Pla are adopted’.
The first thing that the deputy spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group demanded from the minister was ‘transparency’ and that he ‘not silence the experts and be consistent with the information they are providing’. For the Socialists, this implies the adoption of measures, among which the PSIB-PSOE demands the suspension of any urban development that results in an increase in water consumption that is not in line with the drought situation, as well as the declaration of an emergency in the processing of projects that will enable the construction of water infrastructure to be speeded up as much as possible.
In addition, the Socialists are calling for an increase in the sanitation fee for large consumers; a specific investment plan; a programme to combat illegal wells; a halt to any authorisation for new wells throughout the community; and for the Government to take responsibility for transporting water trucks to the different municipalities affected by the drought. Also, the deputy spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group said that on Monday a request was registered in Parliament for Lafuente to appear before the Permanent Deputation to ‘immediately’ report on the reports of the Drought Committee and explain the measures he plans to take.
Marc Pons appeared at the press conference on Monday accompanied by the secretary general of the Socialists of Mallorca, Amanda Fernández, and the secretary for Municipal Policy of the PSIB-PSOE and mayor of Santa Eugènia, Pep Lluis Urraca. For her part, the secretary general of the Socialists of Mallorca, Amanda Fernández, warned that ‘while Mallorca is dying of thirst, the PP continues to sit idly by, failing to address the problem of water shortages and making it worse’.
In Fernández’s words, ‘an example of this is the urban amnesty on rural land approved by the Balearic president Marga Prohens government, which has allowed the legalisation of villas and swimming pools that increase water consumption and send out the dangerous message that you can build because when the PP comes to power, it will legalise it’.
Another factor that, according to the socialist, exacerbates the problem is ‘the liberalisation of construction on rural land promoted by the regional government’, which ‘represents an unprecedented destruction of the territory, opening up large urban development projects that benefit a few developers and involve further urbanisation of Mallorca, with the consequent increase in human pressure and water shortages’.
Added to this, Fernández said, is ‘the lack of measures to curb mass tourism, with new tourist accommodation that can be bought and the creation of a tourist rental market, which significantly increases water consumption’. Therefore, ‘and bearing in mind that the agreement between President Prohens and Vox ignores and denies the consequences of climate change’, Fernández has called on the regional government ‘not to sit on the fence, but to take action and keep its word by increasing the sanitation levy and the Sustainable Tourism Tax so that more resources can be allocated to water policies’.
Finally, the PSIB-PSOE Secretary for Municipal Policy and Mayor of Santa Eugènia, Pep Lluís Urraca, claimed that ‘the solution to the lack of water in the Pla de Mallorca is to build the high-level network so that it is possible to connect to the water coming from the desalination plants’, as all the mayors in the area have demanded, regardless of their political affiliation, but ‘there is no project on the part of the Government’.
Urraca said it is a shame that ‘it is difficult to tell a citizen of the Pla that water restrictions may eventually be imposed, but not 20 kilometres away’, and therefore called for ‘exceptional measures and for the Government to take a step forward, taking advantage of the roadmap set out by the previous progressive government’.
The PSIB-PSOE Secretary for Municipal Policy added that the Pla de Mallorca is no stranger to population growth. In Santa Eugènia alone, demographic pressure has grown by 33 per cent in four years, and ‘this is an increase in water consumption that can be extrapolated to all municipalities, and if there is no immediate response, water will be one of the major problems’.
The meeting to analyse the drought situation affecting the Plan was also attended by the PSIB-PSOE Secretary for Coordination and Political Relations, Mercedes Garrido, the Secretary for Mobility and Territory, Jaume Mateu, and the Island Secretary for Ecological Transition and Mobility, Gracia González, among others.