Mallorca has built an average of three swimming pools a day over the last decade, a pace that contrasts with the growing difficulties some municipalities on the island face in guaranteeing water supply during the summer months. Between 2015 and 2024, 10,680 pools were built, according to a study presented by the environmental organization Terraferida, which amounts to 1,166 per year.
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30% of these new pools, a total of 3,239, were built on rural land, while the remaining 7,441 are located on urban land. To these figures, covered pools should be added, which cannot be detected through the aerial images used in the study, as well as removable installations, whose proliferation has also increased in recent years.
The result is that in the Balearic Islands there are twice as many pools per person as in the rest of the autonomous communities. There are 79,588 according to cadastre data, 100,000 more if the estimated 20,000 illegal pools across all the islands are included. There is one pool for every 14 residents, while the average on the mainland is one pool for every 30 or 35, according to data previously provided by the Director General of Water Resources of the Government, Joan Calafat.
Terraferida links this growth to tourist rentals, the construction of single-family homes on rural land, and real estate speculation. Having a pool increases the value of properties and their appeal for tourist rentals, which is why the organization calls for a moratorium on new pools, especially on rural land. Calculations indicate that more than 4,000 villas have been built in the countryside during this decade.
The Balearic Islands have twice as many pools per person as the rest of the communities
The organization points out another problem linked to these facilities: the accompanying lawn. Terraferida estimates that 100 square meters of lawn may require about 80,000 liters of water per year. A villa with 600 square meters of garden would need, by this calculation, about 480,000 liters annually, equivalent to 48 tanker trucks.
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The problem is not only the water needed to fill the pools or to water the lawn. Evaporation causes pools in the Balearic Islands to lose between 7 and 8 cubic hectometers of water each year, to which approximately another hectometer is added for filter cleaning. Overall, the consumption associated with pools represents about 6% of the water allocated for supply and is equivalent to the annual consumption of about 50,000 homes, around 150,000 people.
Palma is the municipality that has built the most pools in the last decade
The growth of these facilities occurs at a very complicated time for the archipelago’s water resources. This summer, at least four municipalities in Mallorca, Deià, Valldemossa, Esporles, and Sóller, all in the Serra de Tramuntana, have applied restrictions or measures to limit consumption, while other inland municipalities on the island have also had to adopt measures at different times.
Palma is the municipality that has built the most pools in the last decade, with 1,368, followed by Marratxí (815), Calvià (725), Llucmajor (668), Santanyí (666), and Manacor (649). When measured relative to population, the most striking case is Ariany, with 626 pools per 10,000 inhabitants, followed by Santanyí, Campos, and Costitx.
