The rains at the beginning of last week considerably increased the water stored in the Sotavento dams, but in Barlavento (almost) nothing new, according to the most recent weekly bulletin of reservoirs from the National Water Resources Information System, for the week between the 5th and 12th of December.
The Odeleite and Beliche dams, both in Castro Marim, registered an increase in volume of 14 and 12 percentage points, respectively, compared to the end of November.
At the moment, Odeleite, the second largest dam in the region, has 43% of its total capacity, while at the end of November it had 29,6% (that 14% difference), while that of Beliche, which has almost three times less capacity than its “neighbor”, it is at 35% (before, 22,9%).
These two dams make up the Ribeiras do Sotavento sub-basin, which belongs to the Guadiana Hydrographic Basin, which also includes dams in the Alentejo, namely the Alqueva dam. According to the bulletin, the volumes stored in these basins are 40,8% and 63,2%, respectively.
The rise in the level of these two dams was expected, taking into account that the heavy rains that occurred last week caused flooding in the Sotavento and Central Algarve regions.
However, on the 5th, at a time when in several municipalities further east, mainly in Faro, the Civil Protection had its hands full, such was the number of occurrences, in four municipalities in Barlavento – Aljezur, Vila do Bispo, Lagos and Portimão – there were no problems caused by the rain.
The numbers confirm that the rainfall in this area of the Algarve was not nearly as significant as in Sotavento and did not change the worrying situation of the four existing dams there.
The Odelouca dam, in the municipality of Monchique, has not changed compared to the end of last month, remaining at 31% of stored volume. This is the dam with the highest capacity in the Algarve region and belongs to the Arade Hydrographic Basin.
An identical situation is registered in another reservoir of the same basin, that of Funcho, which continues with 56% of its total capacity. The Arade dam rose slightly (difference of 1%), to 26% of stored volume.
The Bravura dam, the only one in the Ribeiras do Barlavento basin, also registered an increase of one percentage point and is now at a still very worrying 10% volume.
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