The 53 short and medium measures provided for in the Regional Water Efficiency Plan (PREH) of the Algarve, presented yesterday in Faro, will allow the region to save a lot of water in the future.
The projects, with a global value of 228 million euros, range from improving public supply and irrigation networks to awareness campaigns, and will result in an estimated saving of 33 cubic hectometers (hm3), or 33 million cubic meters, per year, a volume of water that represents more than a quarter of the total capacity of the Odeleite dam, one of the two largest in the region.
In parallel, several solutions are being studied to increase water availability. On the table are projects such as desalination, the connection between Pomarão and the Odeleite dam (the Guadiana transfer), the use of treated wastewater and the construction of one or more dams (Foupana and Alportel stream).
Even so, devising measures to save water in the short and medium term was one of the main tasks of the authors of PREH, whose preparation was coordinated by the Portuguese Environment Agency and the General Directorate of Agriculture and Regional Development, but which involved many more entities, such as the Algarve Councils, the company Águas do Algarve, the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Algarve Tourism, among others.
The 228 million euros to be invested will be distributed over 13 urban measures (122 million euros), 22 in the agricultural sector (79 million), four related to tourism, more precisely to golf courses (23 million).
The remaining measures are in the administrative and management (14) and infrastructural areas (4).
The majority of investments (21 projects, 40% of the total) aim to improve efficiency: introduction of drip irrigation, rehabilitation of infrastructure and networks, as well as monitoring.
There will also be a strong commitment to adaptation (18 projects, 34%), with projects ranging from the use of wastewater to the reduction of irrigated areas.
There are also eight projects in the environmental area (15%), linked to the coefficient of scarcity and inspection, among others, and six projects in the field of articulation: awareness campaigns and meetings.
This savings component is a point of honor for a commitment made by the Government to the Algarve, said João Matos Fernandes, Minister of Environment, who chaired the presentation session, together with Maria do Céu Antunes, Minister of Agriculture.
“We wanted to find a balance between saving water and guaranteeing solutions that ensure that the Algarve doesn't have less water”, said the member of Government, on the sidelines of the session.
“Our technicians estimate that we can save 33 hm3 through more efficient use and, at the same time, increase the reserve by 60 hm3,” he added.
In other words, for each cubic hectometer saved, two more will be guaranteed in the region's reserve.
«This obviously has an environmental cost, but it also guarantees more water for the future», concluded João Matos Fernandes.
The work carried out was based on a previous diagnosis, which reveals "a very worrying situation" in the Algarve, with a water shortage that is only overcome by the 2004/05 hydrological year, historically the driest ever in the region.
However, the situation in 2019/20 is not far from what it was then and there is no great hope that it will improve substantially, which leads the authors of the plan to state that "drought is structural and not circumstantial".
Currently, the usable volume of all dams in the Algarve is 122,3 hm3, which «corresponds to 32% of the maximum usable volume», revealed Pimenta Machado, vice-president of the APA, who presented the Regional Water Efficiency Plan, in the session that took place in the Grand Auditorium of the University of Algarve.
For comparison, it should be remembered that the five large dams existing in the region have a payload capacity of around 400 hm3.
As for the underground water availability, that is, the water existing in the Algarve's aquifers, it is estimated that, in normal years, it is, in total, 151 hm3. Currently, and taking the 2004/05 hydrological year as a reference, the amount of underground water in the region will be around 60 hm3.
A serious situation, which has already begun to respond.
«We are already using Fennel for public supply, through the Odelouca dam», revealed Pimenta Machado.
On the other hand, the issuance of titles for new boreholes for private use was suspended and the reinforcement of the capacity of the Alcantarilha Water Treatment Plant was concluded, which allowed to increase the water transfer capacity between the west and east network to 7 hm3 per year. of the Multi-municipal Water Supply System.
In the latter case, this means, in practice, that it is possible to send water from the Barlavento, where there is currently more water available, to the Sotavento, where the scarcity is greater.
The works that will allow the reactivation of underground water abstraction in the Luz de Tavira aquifer for agricultural use are also underway.
Still in the agricultural sector, substantial investments will be made in the remodeling and modernization of irrigation networks, as well as in increasing the efficiency of irrigation in the plots.
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