Artà*s water problems

Artà is currently losing 60 per cent of its drinking water through leaky pipes, according to a report presented yesterday by Margalida Rosselló, the Balearic environment minister. The shock figure was revealed in the Agenda Local 21 report, which the minister presented in Artà yesterday. Another of the serious problems affecting Artà*s precarious water situation was the high number of uncontrolled private wells, added to a big increase in consumption. Mayor of Artà Montserrat Santandreu announced that the entire network of pipes for drinking water and sewage would be overhauled at the end of the year. Agenda Local 21 has taken ten months to prepare and it diagnoses the state of the environment in Artà. It will be the basis of a plan of action. The report was made with the collaboration of local residents, and Nicolau Barceló, the director general of rubbish and renewable energies, said that it had opened up a social debate on environmental matters. On the brighter side, the report says that Artà has managed to preserve a large amount of unspoiled landscape. It says that although it has 24.4 kilometres of coastline, hotel accommodation is only 595 beds. But public transport is deficient, and there are too many cars (5'500) on the roads.