The construction of a desalination plant in the Algarve, paid for by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), "is water insurance", defended the Environment minister in an interview with News.
João Matos Fernandes admitted that the construction of the plant will have "environmental impacts", namely "the solid waste that remains after the water has been desalinated to enter the pipelines for human consumption". Another important impact will be on the price of water, which will be “higher than what agriculture is used to paying and golf even more”.
Despite this, the minister considered that "since the PPR became available to finance a desalination plant 100%, we could not waste this opportunity."
However, warned the government official in his interview with Jornal Económico, "no one can imagine that the drought will be fought with the construction of infrastructure."
«The foundations of the water efficiency plans in the Algarve and Alentejo result in a political commitment, I cannot guarantee you more water, I will do everything to ensure that you do not have less water. This is not about multiplying resources where they do not exist, it is about knowing how to live according to the resources that exist», added Matos Fernandes.
The PRR allocates 200 million euros to help tackle the drought problem in the Algarve. The Environment Minister adds: “Let it be clear: is all this to give more water to the Algarve? No, it's to guarantee that the Algarve will not have less water in the future».
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