Portugal’s Environment Agency is to propose rules to reduce water consumption in the Algarve by 70% for the agricultural sector and 15% for urban consumers, the president of the Intermunicipal Community told Lusa.
“The situation is very alarming. We are close to a catastrophic situation and we must start seriously saving water,” António Miguel Pina, president of the Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve (AMAL), told Lusa.
The person responsible for the 16 municipalities of the Algarve said that in meetings that the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) has held in recent weeks with local authorities, representatives of agriculture and tourism, it was decided that water shortages require reduction from February 70. % for water consumption in the agricultural sector and 15% for urban use, including tourism.
“If this year the rains are the same as in the worst of recent years, then now we only have water until the end of August,” warns Antonio Miguel Pina.
According to the mayor, the planned reduction in consumption will provide the region with water until the end of this year.
“This is a possible balance and we all have to make an effort,” said the AMAL leader, who is also president of the Olhão Chamber, adding that the proposal leads to the “minimum possible” for the survival of the agricultural sector.
According to António Miguel Pina, if the goals are not achieved, “it may be possible to increase water tariffs for certain consumption levels.”
“We must also define reasonable consumption and, above all, punish unconscious consumers by paying fines,” the mayor said.
APA hopes to present an emergency plan this month with new water rules in the Algarve, which is experiencing its worst drought on record.
Speaking to Lusa today, APA Vice President José Pimenta Machado admitted that the contingency plan would further penalize agriculture, but quotas have not yet been determined and will be negotiated with local actors.
“This year in the Algarve we are experiencing the worst drought ever, we have never been in a situation like this, with the lowest reservoir levels ever and the same for groundwater,” “the consequence of ten years of drought.” continuation,” said Pimenta Machado.
“The priority use is human use, and agriculture will get a larger share,” added Pimenta Machado.
“We are developing a plan” for “continuous assessment” and “listening to sectors—agriculture, urban, tourism—and working with them to identify” the actions that need to be taken, seeking to “identify water reductions, sector, whether tourism or rural economy,” said the official, who did not want to prejudge the values in question, although he acknowledges that the greatest impact will be on agricultural production.
“The plan will be presented very soon” and lasts “a few days.” An inter-ministerial commission on drought will take place next week, and then the document will be closed for presentation in the region, always with “the main goal of preventing water shortages for the population.”
The Algarve’s six reservoirs are 25% full, down 20 percentage points on the same period last year and with a total of 90 cubic hectares less water.
The official also called on citizens to save water, especially in the Algarve region, through “small actions” that allow the scarce resource to be managed “more economically”.
Some of the measures planned to combat drought in the region are to make sea water drinkable, with the first large desalination plant in the Albufeira area with a capacity of 16 million cubic meters and transfer to Sotavento with connections between Pomaran and Guadiana.