This Tuesday, November 4, the Water Dialogue Roundtable on the island of Ibiza was held, convened by the Water Alliance to debate and propose priority solutions to a persistent drought and the risk of new floods such as those suffered recently. The meeting was held at the Alliance headquarters and was attended by more than 34 representatives of environmental associations, the primary, business and tourism sectors, as well as water management companies and local administrations. The meeting also included the participation of the Director General of Water Resources, Joan Calafat, and the Manager of the Balearic Water Agency, Emeterio Moles, as representatives of the Government of the Balearic Islands.
During the day, the participating entities once again asked the competent administrations to accelerate control actions on large consumers, to maximize the use of desalinated water in winter and to develop pilot projects to close the water cycle through the use of purified water, both for agricultural uses and for cleaning streets or recharging aquifers. In addition, the need to accelerate actions to reduce water losses in the municipal supply network was highlighted, which increase the overexploitation of aquifers and compromise the availability of water during the summer period, when there is greater water demand.
A debate was also generated on the need for a fourth desalination plant on the island of Ibiza. The administrations highlighted the benefit of this new infrastructure to meet current demands. On the other hand, a large part of the entities expressed their disagreement, since in practice it could imply new urban growth. In this sense, the conservation entities highlighted that, given the proposal for a new desalination plant, it is more urgent to set limits on tourist overcrowding and urban growth to alleviate the pressure on the aquifers, guarantee the supply of water in the summer and reduce the limit situation that the treatment plants suffer each summer period. In relation to the risk of new floods, the opportunity to implement nature-based solutions such as the restoration of Ses Feixes des Prat de Vila, the renaturalization of torrents or other agroforestry measures to absorb and infiltrate water during times of heavy rainfall and reduce the impact on urban centers was highlighted.
Representatives of the regional, island and municipal administrations asked for patience and explained the imminent solutions, such as remote monitoring of wells, the start-up of regeneration plants in three treatment plants on the island or the expansion of the desalination plant in Santa Eulària. They also explained how the municipalities already consume desalinated water as a priority and continue to work on reducing losses in the supply network. An example is the case of the municipality of Ibiza, where its councillor for water explained that the new concession of the municipal water service will allow the networks to be renewed and the service to be substantially improved.
The Water Dialogue Roundtable is a participatory space that was initiated 9 years ago on the occasion of the 2016 drought, whose objective is to debate the challenges and priorities of water, as well as to promote a listening process between the main public, private and social organizations and entities on the island of Ibiza. On this occasion, the conservationist sector was attended by Amics de la Terra, Institut d'Estudis Eivissencs, GEN-GOB, Salvem Sa Badia and Casita Verde. From the primary and rural sectors, representatives of the agricultural cooperatives of Sant Antoni and Agroeivissa, Rafal Trobat Association, Forest Owners Association, Association of Organic Agriculture Producers of Ibiza and Formentera and residents of Santa Gertrudis. From the economic sector, representatives of the Hotel Federation of Ibiza and Formentera, Association of Water Catchers of Ibiza, AQUALIA, FACSA and the Association of Naturalized Pools attended. The local administration was represented by the island's Environment Minister of the Ibiza Council and the Environment and Works Councillors of Ibiza, Sant Josep, Sant Antoni and Sant Joan. Finally, the meeting was also attended by the highest officials responsible for water matters from the Government of the Balearic Islands.
This water dialogue table has been financed by the Sant Josep de Sa Talaia City Council within the framework of the 2024 - 2026 strategic subsidy plan, for which direct aid was granted to the Water Alliance for an amount of 7.000 euros in 2025.
