Sóller in Water Shortage: Hoteliers Demand Stricter Controls

Sóller in Water Shortage: Hoteliers Demand Stricter Controls

It is one of those hot, dusty September days in Sóller: the church bells toll, a faint breeze carries the smell of coffee and freshly baked ensaimada across the Plaça, and at the roundabout exit towards the port you see more lorries with water tanks than usual. Between market criers and tourists catching their breath in the plane trees' shade, hoteliers have spoken up. Their central question is: Are the existing controls sufficient to prevent a true water emergency, as discussed in Sóller Facing a Drinking Water Emergency: Ten Days Until the Crisis??

Digital meters versus quarterly readings — an imbalance?

Many hotels in and around Sóller monitor their consumption digitally and report figures to the authorities daily. Private holiday rentals, which provide roughly the same number of beds as the hotel sector, receive a reading only every three months. That causes resentment: "If a holiday home has a large lawn or a pool, you only notice it far too late," says the operator of a family hotel on Carrer de sa Lluna. For hoteliers this is not just a matter of prestige but of planning: short-term consumption peaks can drain municipal reservoirs within days, they warn, a concern highlighted in Water scarcity in Mallorca: Why hotels must now take responsibility.

As a reminder: Sóller has roughly as many hotel beds as private guest beds. This balance makes the issue complex — it is not only about technology but also about law, administrative capacity and fairness between commercial and private usage.

What is often overlooked: controls are not a cure-all

The call for more frequent readings and digital meters sounds plausible. But there are hurdles that rarely make the headlines: the legal situation for rental properties, data protection concerns with real-time data, the cost of installing smart meters and the question of who bears those costs. Small landlords, many family-run, can hardly afford immediate technical investments. In addition, the municipality currently lacks the personnel for comprehensive inspections and clear, quickly enforceable sanctions.

Another problem: water transports. Private tankers increasingly deliver water to remote houses — an indicator that the system is reaching its limits. These improvised solutions do not solve the root cause; they only shift the problem and make the volumes harder to trace.

Concrete proposals — pragmatic and local

The hoteliers themselves propose several measures, which we examine here for feasibility:

- Monthly readings for tourist-used properties with gardens or pools to detect consumption spikes more quickly.

- Mandatory digital minimum standards for high-consumption properties, combined with state or municipal subsidies for installation.

- Temporary filling bans for private pools in critical weeks, paired with tough but transparent sanctions, a measure already reflected in Sóller turns off the tap: Showers off, pools forbidden — how the town is dealing with drought.

- Tiered tariffs for water: those who use a lot pay substantially more — with revenues directed to conservation programs.

These measures are technically feasible. What matters, however, is the social balance: Who pays the costs? How do you prevent the problem from being shifted to less regulated parts of the island?

A chance for Sóller — if acted on wisely now

Rather than panicking, Sóller could become an example: a municipal pilot in one neighborhood that financially supports smart meters, coupled with information campaigns (local markets, bakeries, notices at the port), would create transparency. In addition, the municipality could temporarily ban pool fillings during especially critical weeks and invest long-term in rainwater storage, greywater recycling and public irrigation schedules.

On the ground you can feel the tension: conversations at the bakery, a few words in the supermarket, gardeners rearranging their routes. The tram to Port de Sóller clatters by, and on the coast the sun glints off the jagged rocks. Everyone has an idea for saving water — but without clear rules and enforcement they remain anecdotes.

The guiding question remains: Will Sóller take the next step — technically, administratively and socially — or will the clock run until the reserves run out, as warned in Sóller in the water crisis: reserves now only for about ten days — how the municipality must respond? For hoteliers much is at stake: higher costs, less predictability and, in the worst case, a blow that could put the entire summer season at risk. A smart mix of controls, incentives and investments could turn the current tension into an advantage — if the municipality takes the lead now.

A watering system hums quietly somewhere in a side street — a sound that should soon sound different: more economical, smarter and more fairly distributed.