‘We only have enough water for two months'

Sparks flew yesterday when the Chairperson of the water board Emaya told a Palma City Council meeting that, based on the information she has been presented with, there is only enough water “for two months.” Maria Crespo was speaking during the debate on the PSM Majorca Socialist Party's proposal to modify the plans for the new desalination plant in Sant Jordi. Crespo told the council that “neither the Balearic Minister for the Environment, Margalida Rossello, nor the Chief Minister, Francesc Antich, have done anything,” to solve the problem. The chairperson of the water board also expressed her disappointment that a meeting between all the institutions involved in the water crisis, which should have taken place last week, had been postponed until next week. Crespo suggested that the politicians are wasting valuable time and asked city councillors on both sides of the chamber what they are going to say when, in two months' time, “they open their taps and nothing comes out?” Crespo made it abundantly clear to the council that unless water production at the desalination plant is increased, there will not be enough water this summer, and called on all parties to join forces in demanding that the government launch an immediate viability study of just how much water the plant can produce.