A major paradox in a Mediterranean country like ours is that private companies hold concessions to extract mineral water, which they then bottle, sell, and even export, paying a negligible fee (21 cents per thousand liters bottled). Furthermore, in emergency drought situations, bottling companies face no legal limitations on the amount of water they can extract. This situation is legally sanctioned because water extraction falls under the 1973 Mining Law, a pre-constitutional law that remains in force and treats water as a mineral, thus excluding it from the standard water management system. Fortunately, in Catalonia there are municipalities aware of this absurdity that, while it continues to rain, have approved a motion in their municipal councils to modify the mining law with the aim of ensuring that all inland water bodies, including the aquifers that extract water, are not covered by legal protections – and are instead subject to corresponding river basin management plans. Because they are considered mining operations, these water extractions are legally disconnected from the hydrological cycle, something that directly contradicts the scientific and integrated approach promoted by the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), which integrates all inland waters within a single legal framework.