Water for Palma

the water level of the dams soon begins to drop

The city of Palma at the very south of Mallorca receives most of its drinking water from two giant dams high up in the Tramuntana Mountains.

As you can imagine in summer, when there's very little rainfall, and the demands of a large city swollen by tourism, the water level of the dams soon begins to drop.

At the moment the water level in the Blue Gorge is at 51% of its capacity and the Cúber dam a mere 40%! That's a loss of 14% of the water over the last 5 weeks.

Cúber

Technicians who look after the water storage are putting the blame on the almost total lack of rainfall this year which has been unusually hot and dry. This time last year the level of the dams was 18% higher!

For tourists, both dams are on scenic walking routes - you can catch the bus to the dam and walk back down to Soller - and have picnic areas by the roadside!

Published 31 August 2009 Stephen White.