Government told to get its finger out

The firm action taken by Balearic central government delegate Catalina Cirer, to bring about an immediate end to the water crisis, was yesterday welcomed by the chairman of the Palma water board EMAYA, Maria Crespo, who called on the left-wing coalition government to not waste any more time in officially asking Madrid for the £4 million needed to install a new supply line to the desalination plant. She stressed to the Balearic government the need for two more supply lines to be installed - bringing the total to three. Crespo said that three new supply lines will mean an extra 21'000 cubic metres of water being pumped into the system per day, as she fears that the extra 7'000 provided by a single new outlet will not be enough to guarantee water supply this summer. The first of the new lines, which was organised by Cirer - who took evasive action on Monday, could be in operation by the start of July; but the time-scale now very much depends on Antich's government, which has been accused of wasting time and failing to reach any concrete solutions.