The dams in the Algarve ended the month of November with less water than they had 30 days before, with the exception of the Bravura reservoir, whose volume rose residually. Compared to the level registered a year ago, the decrease takes place across the board and is quite expressive.
However, with the heavy rain that has fallen in recent days in the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo, it is likely that the dams in the south are now more composed.
According to most recent reservoir storage bulletin of the National Water Resources Information System, in the two main reservoirs of the Algarve region, Odelouca and Odeleite, the total volume stored is, respectively, 31,1% and 29,6%.
A month ago, the volume in these two dams was 31,2%, in Odelouca, and 31,1%, in Odeleite. But, if we go back one year, the difference is much more expressive: 53,4%, in the first case, and 48,3%, in the second.
Odelouca is located in the Arade hydrographic basin, whose total surface storage volume was, at the end of November, at 35,7%, a figure that is not far from the average at this time of year (38,3%).
This basin also includes the Funcho and Arade dams.
The Funcho reservoir has the highest volume among the dams in the Algarve and had 57,3% of its total capacity at the end of November (61,2% in October, 64,8% in 2021).
At the Arade dam, the volume stored is 25,3%, slightly below that recorded a month ago (25,4%). At the end of November 2021, this reservoir was at 47,2%.
The Bravura dam, the only reservoir in the Barlavento watershed, has a volume of 9,2%. This value, which places this dam among those in the most critical situation throughout the country, is still higher than that of October (9,1%). One year ago, the stored volume was 13,9%.
In the Sotavento Algarve, in addition to the Odeleite dam, there is the Beliche dam, which is at 22,9% of its total capacity. At the end of October, this reservoir had 24,2% of stored volume, while a year ago it had 40,6%.
These two dams belong to the Guadiana hydrographic basin, which has 59,4% of its total capacity (the average is 75,1%), largely thanks to Alqueva, one of the Alentejo reservoirs included in this basin.
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