The Minister for the Sea and the Water Cycle of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Juan Manuel Lafuente, has placed desalination at the heart of the water strategy of the regional government, in response to increasing pressure on aquifers and the urgent need to ensure the supply of drinking and irrigation water in the archipelago. He stated this on Tuesday during his speech at the technical seminar Desalination in the islands: sustainable solutions for a secure supply, organised in Palma by the College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports.
Image of the desalination plant in Palma. Photo: CAIB.
In his opening speech, Lafuente made it clear that “desalination and water regeneration are no longer complementary or emergency solutions: they have become central pillars of a strategy aimed at ensuring supply, reducing the vulnerability of our systems, and moving towards a more resilient and sustainable water model”.
The minister warned about the critical state of aquifers across all the islands, highlighting an increasingly worrying reality: “We are surrounded by sea, yet we depend on aquifers that are increasingly depleted and deteriorated. Ensuring access to drinking and irrigation water is not a luxury—it is an unavoidable duty”.
Three new desalination plants planned in the Balearics
The Minister for the Sea and the Water Cycle of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Juan Manuel Lafuente, during his speech at the technical seminar. Photo: CAIB.
Lafuente noted that the Balearics currently have eight active desalination plants for public water supply and highlighted the investments the Government is undertaking. Among them, he pointed out the energy modernisation of the facilities in Alcúdia, Andratx, Ciutadella and Santa Eulària, as well as the planning of three new desalination plants in eastern Mallorca, southern Eivissa and eastern Menorca. “It is not enough to produce more—we must also do it better: with greater energy efficiency and a lower environmental footprint”, he said.
The seminar, held at the Espai IBAVI, brought together experts, institutional representatives, technicians and companies from both the Balearic and Canary Islands, serving as a forum for the exchange of experiences and solutions regarding the challenges of water management in island territories. Although other officials such as the Director General for Water Resources, Joan Calafat, and the manager of the Balearic Water and Environmental Quality Agency (ABAQUA), Emeterio Moles, also took part, it was the minister’s words that set the tone for the debate: a firm commitment to desalination as a structural rather than circumstantial tool for securing water supplies in the islands.
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