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Engineers’ Report Confirms Defects in Fornells Port Works, Corrected by the Current Government

Sep 30, 2025 | Current affairs, Featured, Interview, Portada, Post, Revista Lloseta, Thursday Daily Bulletin, Tradition

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1 Engineers’ Report Confirms Defects in Fornells Port Works, Corrected by the Current Government
2 Deficiencies identified
3 Measures taken

The College of Civil Engineers has released an audit confirming design, planning, and execution flaws in the Fornells port sanitation project carried out during the previous legislature. These deficiencies caused seawater intrusion into the system and wastewater overflows.

The Minister of the Sea and Water Cycle, Juan Manuel Lafuente, presented the findings alongside the Mayor of Es Mercadal, Joan Palliser, the Director General of Ports and Maritime Transport, Antoni Mercant, PortsIB manager Kico Villalonga, and local councillor Ricard Riera.

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Engineers’ Report Confirms Defects in Fornells Port Works, Corrected by the Current Government

“The audit is clear: the project was poorly designed, the agreements with the Town Council were signed late, and the works were executed with defects. Our commitment has been to fix those issues, and the necessary repairs have already been carried out,” said Lafuente.

Deficiencies identified

  • Phase 1 (2019-2020): The project was approved before an agreement with the Town Council was signed, preventing the inclusion of municipal demands. The network was built with insufficient slope and without proper pumping, which led to overflows during rainstorms. Soon after delivery, high levels of salinity were detected, revealing seawater intrusion.
  • Phase 2 (2021): The same procedural error occurred. Although later modifications improved pumping capacity, added a generator, and reinforced the pipeline with a concrete bed, inspections found defective joints and connections that allowed seawater infiltration.

Measures taken

Since 2023, the regional government has implemented internal sealing systems, epoxy resins, and concreting to repair the network. Water-tightness tests completed in 2024 and 2025 were successful, and Abaqua reports confirm that salinity levels at the Es Mercadal treatment plant now meet regulatory standards.

Only a small issue remains at the Fornells pumping station, which is still under investigation. This progress has allowed the reuse of treated water for the Es Mercadal irrigation reservoir.

The report warns that overflows will continue as long as some households discharge rainwater into the sewer system. To address this, authorities are considering building a stormwater tank and providing municipal aid for residents to properly separate rainwater and wastewater connections.