The Pitiusas Islands have, as of today, a total of 5,352 authorized water wells, 5,081 on Ibiza and 271 on Formentera. This represents 12.2% and 34.3% more than three years ago, with 4,462 and 178 respectively, according to data provided by the Balearic Ministry of Environment. “This increase is a consequence of urban development on the islands, which shows that there are many houses on rural land, in addition to a division of the land for agricultural use,” explains the Govern’s director general of Water Resources, Joana Maria Garau.
And there is no limit when requesting new authorizations, as long as they do not want to do in areas where aquifers are already stressed. In fact, on Formentera no new wells can be opened and on Ibiza, at present, some areas are forbidden: from Sant Antoni to Santa Agnès, the coast of Sant Josep to es Codolar, the area of sa Serra Grossa, the coast of Santa Eulària and from Cala Sant Vicent to Port de Sant Miquel. “The Hydrological Plan of the Balearic Islands establishes that where there is a high rate of exploitation of the aquifers no more water can be extracted,” Garau points out.
Illegal borings must also be added, which are not accounted for. “They are very difficult to control. We have a well monitoring network, which includes 1,200 boreholes, whose parameters are monitored at different intervals. With this network we can detect anomalous behavior in a given place and this can serve as a guide to know that illegal extractions are being made, but finding the wells is really complicated,” acknowledges Garau.
Lack of department resouces for water
Another of the problems encountered by the department is the scarcity of means at its disposal. “From an objective point of view, there is a significant lack of resources in all matters related to water,” says the director general. For Ibiza and Formentera there are only two guards, although most of the complaints they receive are from individuals.
However, she adds that are not always illegal wells. “Sometimes they have permission, what happens is that the citizen sees that a well is being opened and already thinks it is illegal,” she clarifies. She also explains that they receive complaints related to water supply trucks. “These companies give us information about their consumption, but it is true that the wells from which they extract water are visited more often. There are people who comply, but there are also those who do not. It should also be borne in mind that, although someone sees a lot of truck traffic, you have to think that they have a capacity of between 10 and 15 cubic meters and a house 100 in a month, so there are ten trucks per month,” says Garau.
As for the amount of the sanctions for those detected wells that operate outside the law, it depends on the severity: the minimum can reach 10,000 euros, the less serious up to 50.000, the serious ones up to half a million and the very serious ones, at most, carry a penalty of one million euros.
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