The PSIB-PSOE opposition Socialists in the Balearics called on Friday for ‘immediate’ action in response to what they describe as the “inability” of Marga Prohens’ centre right minority Partido Popular government to take direct and urgent action to address the water shortage affecting many municipalities in the region, while the Minister for the Sea and the Water Cycle, Juan Manuel Lafuente, ‘remains absent and does nothing’.
In a statement, the Socialists indicate that the Balearic Islands’ surface water reserves are currently at 30%, with a forecast of reaching 20% by the end of September, while groundwater reserves are already forcing many municipalities to apply restrictions on water consumption. Specifically, the Pla de Mallorca rural heartland is in a state of emergency due to drought, and there are complications in the Serra de Tramuntana, where Soller has water reserves for just over a week, and restrictions are already in place in Maó, Menorca.
Faced with this ‘worrying’ scenario, the deputy spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group, Marc Pons, has criticised the fact that the regional minister responsible for this area has “disappeared”, is not ‘showing his face’ and is ‘incapable of taking a single measure that goes in the right direction’.
The PSIB warns that, looking ahead, the situation is ‘even more disappointing’ because, ‘while the islands are drying up, the PP and Prohens continue to adopt measures to increase water consumption,’ warned Pons, who added that this party’s policy is marked by ‘urban growth and increased water consumption, in a scenario of increasing drought’.
Pons insisted that ‘the Balearics can no longer cope’. ‘In addition to the urban planning amnesty on rural land promoted by the Prohens government, there is the liberalisation of construction on rural land, the increase in tourist places and the reversal of measures that could alleviate the situation and that the president had committed to, such as the increase in the sanitation fee for large consumers or the increase in the Sustainable Tourism Tax,’ he said.
For all these reasons, they are calling for the drought committee to be convened and the Balearic Islands Drought Plan to be implemented. ‘The minister also has a responsibility to coordinate between the Government and Emaya, and should be acting in this regard, because he is responsible for the connections in the distribution of water at source,’ he argued.
According to the PSIB, in the more than two years that the current government has been in power, ‘not a single new investment’ has been made in water resources, while ‘those that were planned or in progress have not been able to speed up to ensure an increase in supply.’ At the same time, ‘they have not bothered to increase or guarantee the supply connections of the high-level pipelines, nor have they made any improvements to increase the amount of treated water that can also be used in urban areas’. They are therefore calling for the Minister for the Sea and the Water Cycle to appear before the plenary session and have submitted a question on the implementation of the drought plan.