Gorg Blau reservoir, way below capacity.

Gorg Blau reservoir, way below capacity. | Cati Cladera

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma29/08/2016 00:00
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Majorca is currently in the grip of its worst drought for the past decade with water reserves at just 44 per cent at a time when the island is breaking all tourism records and demand for water is at an all time high.

In July alone, 2,442,948 holidaymakers visited the island, making Majorca the most visited island in Spain.

The ten municipalities in the centre of the island (the plain of Majorca) are now on drought alert, while the rest of the island is on a "prealert", although Palma and Calvia are moving very close to be on a drought footing.

Esporles, for example, is suffering overnight water cuts and in Valledmossa and Estellencs, for example, people have been asked to ration their water usage.

Palma’s municipal services agency Emaya spent 5.5 million euros on desalinated water between January and July. By the end of the year it is anticipated that it will have paid 8.6 million euros to the government’s water agency Abaqua for this water.

Emaya envisages continuing the purchase of desalinated water during the autumn. The current situation with the reservoirs is that the levels are well below the 56.5% capacity that there was at this time last year (at the start of the 2015 summer the capacity was at 80%).

Between January and 23 August, almost 6.5 million cubic metres of desalinated water were bought from the plant in Palma. The highest amount was in July (1.23 million), with the amount for the month up to 23 August having been over 930,000.