The Government today recommended that municipalities with less water, namely in the Algarve, create tourist fees, whose revenue reverts to the environmental sustainability of the territories.
“We recommend for territories with more pressure, namely the Algarve, that municipalities develop fees that can revert to the environmental sustainability of the territories, such as investment in water, nature conservation or waste management”, said the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action Duarte Cordeiro.
The recommendation was made at a press conference with the Minister of Agriculture Maria do Céu Antunes, after a two-hour meeting of the Permanent Commission for the Prevention, Monitoring and Accompaniment of the Effects of Drought (CPPMAES).
Pointing out that the Alentejo and the Algarve are already suffering from severe and extreme drought, the two government officials announced measures to minimize the problem, with Duarte Cordeiro recommending, as he had already done last year, that municipalities “design intelligent tariffs”, so that those who consume more water pay more.
Those who use water to fill swimming pools should pay more, as opposed to those who use water for daily consumption.
CPPMAES met today for the first time this year, having decided that from now on the meetings will be monthly. At today's meeting it was decided that the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) will assess whether there are conditions to decree the situation of extreme and severe drought in certain places, which will allow support to farmers.
Duarte Cordeiro made, at the end of the meeting, a balance of the measures to combat the drought situation in the country, such as those that will lead to a 50% increase in the availability of water in the Algarve, adding that, while these investments do not produce effects, it is necessary to “manage the territory with contingency measures”, such as those adopted today for the Alentejo and Algarve.
For the two regions, measures were adopted such as limiting the abstraction of water for agriculture, as well as recommendations in terms of tariffs and fees, especially for the Algarve, where, said Duarte Cordeiro, there was a 3% increase in water consumption .
As Maria do Céu Antunes had already said, the minister also spoke of lowering the water catchment quota at the Santa Clara dam, on the Mira river (Alentejo), with investments in efficiency expected to bear fruit within five years, and the construction of new greenhouses being prohibited in the Southwest Alentejo area.
"The perspective is to recover the traditional quota, if not, the measures will have to be more restrictive", warned the minister,
For the Algarve, measures were also decided to limit the use of water for agriculture, namely at the Odelouca dam.
Regarding the Santa Clara dam, the minister explained that the decision did not stem from today's meeting and also left the warning that capturing water at a lower dam quota is based on the commitment to more efficient water management.
Maria do Céu Antunes also said that the Government would study ways to make the installation of ponds more flexible, a measure that was the subject of a notice last year that received 353 applications, in an investment of almost 44 million euros.
Questioned by journalists, the Minister for the Environment said that there is still no reason to limit the use of water for energy purposes and stressed that the most worrying situations are currently the regions of Alentejo, especially the coast, Algarve, especially the western part, some places in the center of the country and Trás-os-Montes.
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