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By Humphrey Carter

PALMA
OVER the past 50 days, the equivalent of a year's worth of rainfall has been recorded in the Balearics and, for the first time since it came into operation, the Bay of Palma desalination plant has been switched off.

Majorca's two main reservoirs, Gorg Blau and Cuber up in the Sierra Tramuntana mountains, are both 100 percent full and are holding enough water to guarantee supplies to Palma for the next year - even if it does not rain again over the next 12 months.

The past months have been unusually wet. Local met. office records show that last month, we had just four dry days and the start of this month has been the wettest for the best part of 30 years.

The water board EMAYA has been forced to “blood” the two reservoirs to prevent them from over flowing and the combination of the heavy rains and the daily overspill of 40'000 cubic litres from the reservoirs has lifted the level of the region's water table to 70 percent and the islands' wells are holding a similar capacity of water.