Palma water plan: 180-litre target under fire

Palma, Mallorca, is planning its future water supply around 180 litres per person per day. Environmental group GOB says the city’s water plan does not show how consumption will fall that far. On Tuesday, 29 September 2026, it called on Palma City Council to halt the plan and rewrite it.

The figures do not add up, GOB says

Palma’s Sustainable Water Management Plan puts demand in 2040 at 37.59 cubic hectometres a year. But its own figures show consumption of between 226 and 247 litres per person per day over the past 12 years. GOB says the plan does not explain how it will achieve the reduction of more than 20%. Applied to Palma’s projected 2040 population of 572,178, the difference amounts to about 9.6 cubic hectometres a year, the group says.

GOB also says the plan lacks clear measures, deadlines, costs and estimates of how much water each measure would save. The cost of remotely read water meters appears as €15.25 million in one part of the plan and €5.25 million in its final table. The group says it is also unclear how the 2040 calculation accounts for extra demand from new housing.

A desalination plant raises another objection

The plan proposes a new municipal desalination plant with capacity of up to 36 cubic hectometres a year. It also includes further water extraction, including 2.29 cubic hectometres a year at Xorrigo. GOB argues that projects of this size require a full environmental impact assessment and that the plan setting them out should have undergone a full strategic environmental assessment before approval.

GOB wants the council to suspend the process and cancel the plan’s initial approval. It is asking for revised demand and supply figures, evidence supporting the 180-litre target, an examination of alternatives and a complete copy of the case file.

Topics: Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com