Project already decried for “serving to pollute / fatten pockets of a few”
Tomorrow in Quarteira, at 5pm, the Mais Algarve Platform opens the floor to a critical debate on plans for a €90 million desalination plant set back from the coast in Albufeira.
As previous stories have explained, this EU-funded undertaking will disgorge tens of thousands of cubic tons of untreated brine into the sea 24/7 once it is ‘up and running’.
It promises to provide ‘fresh water’ for up to 100,000 people – a fraction of the resident population of the region, without factoring in visitors and tourists.
The previous government/ Águas do Algarve (the region’s water management entity) have said such an infrastructure is of vital importance, considering the south’s lack of sufficient rainfall. Local PSD queried transparency in the early days of the project – since being part of the winning coalition in the last legislative elections, the party has said almost nothing.
In fact, the new AD government has skirted round this issue, which has inflamed local residents aware of the downsides.
The project is actually attracting new dissenters all the time. Said one: “I live along the route where the pipe will be laid and have had land compulsory purchased which houses beautiful old Almond and Alfarroba trees that are going to be destroyed…
“A field we purchased last year to house our Donkeys is being cut in half!
“The majority of the 150 landowners do not want this monstrosity here, and neither do most of the local people… but from what I have heard, fishermen and beach businesses have been warned not to oppose the plan”.
Whatever the truth, fishermen’s association Quarpesca will be at the event tomorrow, which is being held in the Auditório do Centro Autárquico de Quarteira, along with marine expert Claudia Sil, of CCMAR, attached to the University of the Algarve, and PAS – the Platform for Sustainable Water.
Says the blurb going out and being widely shared ahead of the event: “The issue of water is crucial in the Algarve. As part of the debate on this concern, the proposal to build a desalination plant on Falésia beach has emerged.
“Many people believe that the investment of millions of euros is unjustified and that the environmental and social impacts are more damaging than the supposed benefits”.
This opinion has already been underscored by academics, while local environmental lawyer Rui Amores has dubbed the project a “desalination plant of shame”, for the perceived irregularities that he has identified.
One factor that still rankles is the early PSD concern about ‘transparency’: it is widely believed that any water produced by this plant would be expensive (to say the least) – yet no one, to date, has been given any details.
Questions/ opinions/ arguments, the Mais Algarve Platform says they will all be welcome tomorrow, as will participation, which is free to everyone interested.
The Mais Algarve Platform describes itself as an autonomous group of former members of the Left Bloc and other left-wing activists with a militant desire to renew and reinvigorate political activity in the region.
PAS is non-political: it is much more concerned with the sustainability of resources, and finding sense in decision-making.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
