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Last summer demand for water rose sharply by 12 per cent and yesterday the Balearic government tried to inject some sense of urgency into the water saving drive by launching yet another campaign. “Water is very valuable, appreciate water” is the slogan of the campaign unveiled by the local Environment Minister, Margalida Rossello who stressed the need for consumers to be more careful than ever as the number of people in the Balearics reaches its peak this month. Despite last summer's rise in demand, in the municipalities of Palma and Calvia, two million cubic metres of water were saved and Rossello hit back at her critics, pointing out to those who slammed last year's campaign as too expensive, that the net costs of saving all that water was 30 pesetas per cubic metre “water does not come much cheaper than that.” Director of the government's Water Resources department, Antoni Rodríguez, said “the cheapest water is water which is saved” and that data collected in Calvia by the Drought Commission shows that water usage has fallen by two per cent this year while in Palma, there has been a six per cent increase. Rodríguez said that the increase in Palma does not correspond to the slight fall in the size of water bills and can only conclude that there is still a vast amount of water being lost in Palma's supply network. Over 40 million pesetas are being spent on the new campaign which will be aimed at residents and tourists.