The three mayors elected by the PSD in the Algarve were today «unavailable to increase the price of water», as planned increase in tariffs announced by socialist António Pina, president of the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL), last week, announced the PSD Algarve, in a statement.
In addition to the unavailability demonstrated by Rogério Bacalhau, Francisco Amaral and José Carlos Rolo, presidents of the Chambers of Faro, Castro Marim and Albufeira, respectively, the Algarve social democrats will «present motions at meetings of the Chamber and Municipal Assemblies of the 16 municipalities in the Algarve, outright rejecting the punishment of the Algarve for the lack of solutions in the last decade on water issues», told the Sul Informação Cristóvão Norte, president of PSD/Algarve.
This Wednesday, the presidents of the three “orange” Chambers of the Algarve, «faced with the Government's demand to review lower water supply tariffs, make it public that they are unavailable to increase the price of water”, reads in the statement.
The mayors consider that, if the price of water were to increase by between 15 and 50% for urban consumption, to be applied from the second level onwards, this “would constitute an unfair and unjustified decision towards the citizens they represent”.
According to Rogério Bacalhau, Francisco Amaral and José Carlos Rolo, «such a decision would cover the overwhelming majority of households and companies», meaning they will say a «resound no to the brutal increase in the price of water that the Government wants to impose».
«The people of the Algarve cannot be the ones to pay for the total lack of action on the part of the Government which, in the last decade, despite the worsening of the drought situation, was unable to take measures to tackle the problem», argue the mayors.
Cristóvão Norte argues that «there are other ways to guarantee water savings that do not involve punishing people».
Speaking to journalists last Friday, the president of AMAL, António Miguel Pina, said that the increases in the various consumption levels, applied differently from March onwards, are the result of an instrument proposed by the Water Services Regulatory Authority and Waste (ERSAR).
The president of the association that makes up the 16 Algarve municipalities detailed that the first tier will not have any increase, with an increase of 15% being applied to the second tier, 30% to the third and 50% to the fourth and final tier.
Non-domestic consumption – hotels, commerce and industry – will be subject to an increase of 15%.
The Government announced that the Algarve will have water cuts of 25% in agriculture and 15% in the urban sector, which includes tourism, to preserve water reserves and face water scarcity.
The increase in water prices should be one of 46 measures planned for the region, which are still awaiting approval by the Council of Ministers.
The measures, proposed by the Permanent Commission for Prevention, Monitoring and Monitoring of the Effects of Drought, are, according to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, “mandatory” given the current situation in the Algarve.
The capacity of the region's reservoirs is at a level of 25%, compared to 45% last year at the same time.
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