Living on an island like I do, water is an ever present feature of life. Funnily enough, one is at times not quite conscious of this fact.

Yes, one is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, and that is a lot of water. But if you don’t live right next to the sea – most residents don’t; that would be the privilege of the tourists, for a week or two – one does not get to see the sea on a daily basis.

On the occasion of the World Day for Water which is celebrated today thanks to a United Nations initiative in 1993, the subject of water for this blog entry has an emphasis on drinking water. Mallorca in the past has seen periods of some severe drought when water had to be imported from the mainland. Thanks to the unusual amount of rainfall over the last 18 months, the island’s water reservoirs are currently nearly full to capacity. But in order to avoid drinking water shortages in the future, the Govern Balear has made substantial investments over the last few years in water desalination plants. I believe that these are switched off at the moment but can easily be re-activated in times of need.

Two weeks ago, the Balearic government also announced plans to invest large amounts of money in waste-water treatment between now and 2015, thanks to substantial help from central government in Madrid. The daily irrigation of tourist facilities, public green zones, golf courses and the like consumes an unbelievable amount of water. Good water husbandry would seem paramount.

Our lives depend upon water as much as the air we breathe and the soil we till.

The photo was taken in Randa, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 12th, 2009. The time was 14:29:25.