The Environment Minister guarantees that there will be no shortage of water in the Algarve even after restrictions are eased

The Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, guaranteed this Wednesday that even after the easing of restrictions, there will be water for consumption in the Algarve, but the government will be careful to “tighten restrictions here and there if necessary.”

Speaking to Lusa on the sidelines of the Concordia European Summit, which this Wednesday will bring together decision-makers in Porto to discuss the energy transition, economic growth and competitiveness, as well as topics related to cooperation, peace and security, Maria da Graça Carvalho categorically answered questions about the drought in the Algarve.

“Yes it [possível garantir que o Algarve terá água]. We did the math. The accounts are very consolidated, based on the assumption that any assistance must guarantee the availability of water for consumption throughout the year, even if there is no rain at all. But this is a dynamic assessment, and every two months we will review the measures, and if it is necessary to tighten here and there, we will do that too,” said Maria da Graça Carvalho.

The government announced on Wednesday an easing of restrictions imposed on water consumption in the Algarve’s agricultural and urban sectors, including tourism, to combat drought in the Algarve region.

“The Government has decided to repeal Resolution 26A 2024 on 20 February and a further resolution will be approved and published in the coming weeks which aims to continue the responsibility policy but nevertheless ease the restrictions that are currently in place. compared to the situation in 2023,” the Prime Minister said after a meeting of the drought monitoring committee in Faro.

This Wednesday in Luz, Maria da Graça Carvalho said that a new resolution will be submitted to the Council of Ministers in the week of June 10, and the previous one, approved in February by the government of António Costa, was canceled when the new one comes into force.

The Minister of Environment and Energy stressed that the new resolution “provides more than just relief measures.”

“There is a part about accelerating existing investments, mainly from the PDP side. [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência] which is long overdue. Only 5% is completed. Most of them are from Aguas do Algarve and some are from municipalities,” he said.

Asked if she was afraid of losing funding and opportunities, Maria da Graça Carvalho said the guardianship would “monitor the projects and do everything to ensure they move quickly” because, she added, “Portugal urgently needs to implement PRR projects.”

“In the Algarve, only the projects in which investments have already been allocated will produce an additional 76 cubic hectometers of water, equivalent to one year’s urban consumption in the Algarve,” he said.

In response to criticism from Algarve mayors who indicated that they had not been heard about the change in resolution, Maria da Graça Carvalho admitted that the meeting model would be changed.

“The mayors have been heard. Technical consultation meetings are held and all sectors of the region are heard (…). An inter-ministerial meeting is then held to make decisions rather than consult. Here’s how it’s defined. But we are thinking about revising it to give it a clearer format. So far we have followed what is provided, but we realized that we can optimize the format,” the official said.

We are talking about the format of the so-called Drought Commission, which was created in a resolution of 2017.

Finally, continuing the theme of water and drought, Maria da Graça Carvalho took the opportunity to praise the campaign being carried out by several organizations related to tourism in the region.

“Those who live in the Algarve are already aware of the need to save water. Those who come to us should also know about this,” he concluded.