Desalination has quietly become the backbone of Mallorca’s public water supply. According to figures from Abaqua, the Balearic government’s water agency, approximately 62% of the water it distributes across the islands is now desalinated — a share that has climbed from what was once framed as an environmental safeguard into what officials now describe as a plain necessity.
The shift reflects conditions that have become close to permanent rather than seasonal. Mallorca is now almost continuously under pre-drought alert, with some areas periodically escalating to drought alert — one level below drought emergency. Population growth, rising tourist numbers and a steady increase in private swimming pools have all added to demand that the islands’ natural water resources can no longer reliably meet on their own.
Older plants back at full capacity, new ones on the way
Much of the current capacity comes from the Alcudia and Andratx desalination plants, both of which were mothballed for roughly a decade in the early 2000s and are now running at full output. The Balearic government is planning three entirely new plants — in southeast Mallorca, eastern Menorca and Ibiza — alongside expansions at Alcudia, Andratx and the Santa Eulària plant in Ibiza, and a full modernisation of the ageing Palma Bay facility.
Demand is heavily concentrated in the islands’ two largest, most tourist-dense municipalities. Palma and Calvia account for the largest share of desalinated water use, with Andratx a distant third at around a fifth of Calvia’s demand. Coverage remains uneven, though: Alcudia currently has no desalinated supply (though that is expected to change), while inland areas such as the Pla region are largely unconnected to the network, aside from small allocations reaching Ariany and Maria de la Salut.
The premium price of a drought-proof supply
Desalinated water carries the highest cost of any source feeding the public network, known as the Transversal Water Axis. Municipalities in Mallorca currently pay a flat rate of €1.06 per cubic metre, while Formentera — reliant on smaller, less efficient plants — pays the highest rate in the Balearics at €1.70. The regional ministry for the water cycle attributes the variation largely to how intensively each plant’s capacity is utilised, along with fixed production and maintenance costs and the extent to which desalinated supply can be blended with other sources.
Managing that cost against a growing, structurally water-stressed population remains an open policy question. A mandatory progressive water tariff system — charging higher rates to heavier users — was first announced back in 2008, but implementation across the islands’ town halls, which retain ultimate responsibility for local supply, has remained inconsistent and gradual.
The Balearic government’s own water resources chief put the underlying logic bluntly last month, in comments echoed at the municipal level, where even a town of under 400 residents has turned to its own small desalination plant after natural sources fell short: for the Balearics as a whole, natural resources are no longer sufficient, and desalination has moved from option to requirement.
Source: Majorca Daily Bulletin