EDITORIAL

By Jason Moore IT came as no great shock to see the damage caused by the freak storm last Friday because Majorca is simply not equipped to deal with heavy rains. The torrents are literally full with rubbish and this state of affairs was clearly visible at the Portixol yacht club with yachts swimming in a sea of litter which had been washed into the marina via the torrent. I just don't understand why the torrents were not cleaned over the summer. Heavy rains are common in Majorca in September and you would have thought that a dedicated cleaning campaign of the torrents would have been introduced along with general maintenance of the main drainage system. I think the rains further underlined a problem which is clearly visible in Majorca at the moment, neglect. The island is being seriously neglected. The amount of rubbish in the sea is reaching alarming levels and now we have seen that torrents were blocked when they were most needed, with rubbish. The new Balearic government has made plenty of promises and are set to spend many millions of euros on new motorways, etc. But what is needed is a major clean-up operation. Majorca needs a spring clean, and a lick of paint here and there. The controversial rubbish recycling plant at Son Reus was built to resolve the island's pressing disposal needs. Unfortunately a sizeable amount of rubbish is not even getting there because it is being dumped, literally everywhere. Many tourists will be returning home complaining about the dirty sea. This is a bad state of affairs and the Balearic government urgently needs to address this problem.