Port de Sant Miquel's Water Supply: A Decade of Political Proposals Without a Definitive Solution

10 November 2026

The water-supply problems affecting Port de Sant Miquel have been the subject of political proposals, municipal discussions and administrative initiatives for more than a decade. Yet, despite repeated commitments to bring the service under public management, the coastal area of Sant Joan de Labritja continues to depend on a private water network whose existing groundwater concessions do not expressly authorise general supply to the area's homes and businesses.

A new investigation by La Voz de Ibiza, published on 10 November 2026, traces the history of these proposals from 2015 to the latest municipal decisions. Its findings highlight how successive initiatives failed to deliver a definitive change, while also revealing that the town council had been aware of the limitations surrounding the water concessions before its December 2025 plenary agreement.

The issue is not simply the age of the infrastructure. It also concerns the legal scope of the groundwater concessions, the ownership and condition of the distribution network, the availability of desalinated water and the practical difficulties of establishing a public supply system.

A Private Water Network Dating Back to the Development of Port de Sant Miquel

The origins of the water infrastructure in Port de Sant Miquel are linked to the area's tourism development during the late 1960s.

According to Pep Torres, a Socialist councillor in Sant Joan, the first installations were developed to meet the needs of hotels and were subsequently extended to serve other properties and businesses.

The exact date when the network began supplying third parties cannot be established from the municipal documentation examined by La Voz de Ibiza. The town council acknowledges that the system has historically supplied homes, tourist establishments and other businesses through a private network, but says it cannot determine precisely when that wider supply began or whether the legal conditions remained the same throughout its history.

The current operator is Real Estate San Miguel Suministro de Aguas SL (RESM), a company belonging to hotel investment group Hotel Investment Partners (HIP).

The distinction between the water sources and their authorised uses is important. The wells are not entirely without concessions. According to the municipal documentation, the existing groundwater rights are linked to supplying two hotels and irrigation. However, those titles do not expressly cover general water supply to the wider population and businesses of Port de Sant Miquel.

The municipal legal report describes the supply to third parties as a service being provided in practice without the necessary authorisation for that general use.

2015: The First Proposal Recalled by the Socialist Group

Pep Torres places the first political initiative in 2015, when the Socialist group presented a proposal for a comprehensive water plan for the municipality.

According to Torres, the proposal gave particular attention to Port de Sant Miquel because of its dependence on private groundwater extraction. The intention was to move towards a municipal supply system connected to the island's desalinated-water network.

This date is based on Torres's account to La Voz de Ibiza. The available reporting does not independently establish the full text, approval status or subsequent administrative progress of that specific proposal.

2016: Negotiations with the Private Operator Considered

The issue was already part of the municipal debate by December 2016.

At that time, the council, then led by Antoni Marí Marí, committed to studying the possibility of municipalising the water supply following a request from the Socialist group.

The proposed approach included negotiating with the existing company, assessing the actual condition of the infrastructure and preparing a technically sound project.

These were preliminary steps towards examining a possible change in management. They did not result in the transfer of the network to the municipality.

2018: A New Motion Calls for Municipalisation

The question returned to the council in 2018, when Gian Di Terlizzi, then a councillor with Guanyem Sant Joan, presented a motion calling for the municipalisation of the water network in Port de Sant Miquel.

The initiative sought to address the continued dependence on private wells and establish a public supply system.

The proposal formed part of a wider debate about water as a public resource and the pressure that groundwater extraction places on the island's aquifers.

February 2020: Unanimous Agreement to Begin the Process

A further step followed in February 2020, when the municipal plenary unanimously agreed to begin the procedures for municipalising the water supply in Port de Sant Miquel.

The agreement included establishing a committee to examine the necessary actions and consider negotiating the acquisition or expropriation of the private water network.

The proposed solution also involved connecting the area to the island's desalinated-water system, which already reached the village of Sant Miquel.

Contemporary reporting by Noudiari and Periódico de Ibiza confirms the decision and the intention to establish a committee. However, the agreement to initiate the process should not be confused with a completed municipalisation or an operational connection to desalinated water.

The initiative did not deliver the definitive change in supply management that had been envisaged.

December 2025: The Council Reopens the Issue

The municipal process entered a new phase with the plenary agreement of 22 December 2025, which initiated administrative file 2639/2025.

The resulting examination brought together information from municipal technical and legal services, Public Health and the regional water authorities.

The documentation identified a significant discrepancy between the existing groundwater concessions and the actual supply arrangements in Port de Sant Miquel.

The concessions were associated with two hotels and irrigation, rather than a general public supply to homes, tourist accommodation and other businesses.

The council also acknowledged that it had been aware of limitations affecting the concessions before the December 2025 agreement. According to its responses to La Voz de Ibiza, administrative background relating to the issue existed from at least 2018.

The municipality nevertheless explained that it had previously lacked both the water resource and the public distribution network necessary to provide the service directly.

July 2026: The Council Rejects Taking Over the Old Network

A significant change in direction came on 30 July 2026, when the municipal plenary unanimously decided against acquiring, expropriating or incorporating the existing private network as a whole into the future public service.

The decision followed a technical assessment of infrastructure more than 50 years old.

The report identified several concerns, including incomplete documentation, pipelines crossing private properties, uncertain easements, undocumented branches and difficulties accessing parts of the network for maintenance and repairs.

It also found that the available documentation did not sufficiently establish the technical, hydraulic, sanitary, legal and property-related suitability of the infrastructure for incorporation into a municipal system.

The council therefore concluded that taking over the existing installations could expose the municipality to substantial technical, financial and legal responsibilities.

The decision does not mean that municipalisation has been abandoned. Instead, the council intends to assume responsibility for the public water service through a new infrastructure system, without automatically becoming the owner of the existing private pipes, wells and reservoirs.

Individual sections of the old network could still be considered for use if inspections establish that they are technically suitable and legally available.

A New Desalinated-Water Reservoir in Sant Miquel

The alternative approach relies on desalinated water supplied through the public system.

A central part of the plan is a new regulating reservoir in Sant Miquel, with a capacity of 2,000 cubic metres. It is intended to store and regulate desalinated water before its future transport towards Port de Sant Miquel.

The construction contract was awarded to IMESAPI SA on 29 May 2026 for €1,414,383, excluding VAT, and formalised on 4 June. The contract provides for a nine-month execution period.

The project is supported by €1,763,788 in funding from the Sustainable Tourism Tax, according to the official Islas Sostenibles project information.

The reservoir is designed to improve supply regulation, maintain water pressure and provide additional storage capacity during periods of high demand.

However, the reservoir alone will not complete the connection to Port de Sant Miquel. A separate pipeline is also required.

The 4.95-Kilometre Pipeline Still Needs to Be Built

The Balearic Government has a separate project for a new 4.95-kilometre pipeline connecting the regulating reservoir in Sant Miquel with Port de Sant Miquel.

The project has a budget of €695,397.64 and includes integration with the existing municipal network, remote-control systems and monitoring meters.

According to the regional government's project information, updated on 24 August 2026, the pipeline had reached the stage of having a completed project and approved budget.

This is an important distinction: the pipeline was not listed as completed or operational. Until the necessary works are carried out and the connection becomes available, the new public infrastructure cannot replace the existing supply arrangements in Port de Sant Miquel.

The planned connection is intended to reduce dependence on private groundwater extraction, ease pressure on natural aquifers and provide a more stable supply for residents and businesses.

Private Supply Continues During the Transition

Until the new infrastructure is operational, the existing private network remains essential for supplying homes, tourist establishments and businesses in Port de Sant Miquel.

The municipality has stated that maintaining continuity of supply is a priority while the new system is developed.

As part of the July 2026 decision, the council instructed its technical and legal services to prepare a written, time-limited transitional arrangement. This is intended to establish responsibilities for maintenance, water-quality controls, operating conditions and the eventual end of the provisional arrangements.

In its response to La Voz de Ibiza, the council said that this arrangement was still being formalised and was linked to a modification of the contract with Aqualia.

The future public service will also require further decisions concerning supply points, demand assessments, legal arrangements and tariffs.

No Municipal Sanctioning Proceedings Recorded

The investigation also examines whether enforcement action was taken in relation to the existing supply arrangements.

According to the municipal documentation described by La Voz de Ibiza, the council had no record of sanctioning proceedings or formal reviews of the groundwater concessions in the files examined.

The municipality also stated that Public Health had confirmed there was no infringement proceeding against the operator in the documentation available to the council.

However, the regional authorities have not provided a definitive answer on whether any separate sanctioning procedure was initiated in relation to possible extraction volumes exceeding those authorised.

It is therefore important not to interpret the absence of a recorded municipal sanctioning file as proof that no proceedings have ever existed across all relevant authorities.

A Decade of Proposals, with the Definitive Solution Still Pending

The history of Port de Sant Miquel's water supply illustrates the difference between political commitments and the delivery of infrastructure.

Proposals in 2015, discussions in 2016, motions in 2018 and the unanimous agreement of 2020 all addressed the need for a public solution. Yet none resulted in the completed transfer of the existing network or the replacement of its private water sources.

The municipal process initiated in December 2025 and the decisions taken in 2026 have established a different route: a new public system based on desalinated water, supported by a regulating reservoir and a pipeline connecting Sant Miquel with the coastal settlement.

The reservoir contract has been awarded, but the connecting pipeline was still at project stage in the regional government's August 2026 update. The transitional arrangements for the existing private supply also remained under development according to the municipality's latest responses.

For residents and businesses in Port de Sant Miquel, the definitive change will depend not simply on another political agreement, but on the completion of the infrastructure, the establishment of the public service and the resolution of the legal and operational arrangements needed to put it into use.

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