Can you drink tap water in Palma?

Emaya campaign to promote the consumption of water from the network.

One of the questions that many people ask themselves when visiting Mallorca is the following: Can you drink tap water in Palma? Even those who live on the island have doubts as to whether the tap water is drinkable or not. The United Nations Organization promotes World Water Day every March 22 to raise awareness in society about the importance of water and promote its responsible use. The motto of this 2021 is “the value of water”.

To celebrate, the Municipal Water and Sewerage Company of Palma (Emaya) has installed an information point in the Plaza de Santa Pagesa. From there, different initiatives have been published to promote the consumption of tap water in Palma with their own motto: “Drink tap water, it’s good for your health and for the planet”.

Is tap water drinkable?

Those responsible for Emaya send a clear message to the public: Palma’s water is drinkable. It has all the sanitary guarantees for human consumption, it is controlled and analyzed on an ongoing basis. In this sense, more and more people are consuming it, either directly or after domestic filtering treatments that improve taste. The fact is that the presence of chlorine in tap water in Palma, which is precisely what allows its consumption, is noticeable in the taste.

Emaya recently incorporated a section on its website where updated data on the water that reaches any house in the city can be consulted regularly. In this analysis tool, parameters such as chlorine, mineralization and others are reported, once the home address is entered.

Water fountains in Palma

One of the actions that is providing more visibility on this matter and that answers the question of whether you can really drink tap water in Palma is to install new sources of filtered drinking water in various parts of the city. These fountains have a filtering system similar to that of jugs for domestic use, a system available to everyone if they want to improve the taste of the tap water. The characteristic chlorine taste of tap water in Palma is thus eliminated. So far, a total of 15 new sources are distributed throughout the city and there is an intention to increase their number.

These sources are designed to fill reusable bottles or canteens and avoid the consumption of single-use plastic bottles. The figures in the Balearic Islands speak for themselves:

• The inhabitants consume 175 liters of bottled water every year.
• This equates to about 117 1.5-liter bottles per year.
• Each person spends about 61 euros per year.
• 2,000 tons of plastic waste are generated annually in Palma.

Emaya’s message is clear. Consuming water from the network does not generate waste, it is cheaper and more convenient. In addition, it comes directly home without having to go to buy or transport it.