Saving water shouldn’t empty consumers’ pockets, DECO says
Consumer watchdog DECO has urged Algarve municipalities to provide funding programmes for citizens to purchase water-saving equipment.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, DECO Algarve spokesperson Susana Correia said this is what authorities should be doing instead of proposing water price hikes at a time when families are already struggling to make ends meet.
While DECO agrees that water-saving measures are necessary to tackle the region’s extreme drought, the answer lies in helping citizens invest in more water-efficient equipment and technology. As Susana Correia puts it, saving water shouldn’t empty consumers’ pockets.
Instead, local authorities such as the Algarve Municipalities Association (AMAL) should provide the necessary funding for consumers to purchase equipment which would allow them to “use water more efficiently, monitor their consumption and also store rainwater.”
“What we are proposing is the start of a debate. We believe that this can be done with funding and that funding can be found,” Correia told Lusa.
DECO’s idea is for the proposed funding to be “accessible to all consumers and not only the most vulnerable” – in other words, middle-class families should also be supported.
“We can purchase more accessible equipment such as flow reducers and more efficient taps and showers,” the spokesperson said, stressing that older washing machines can consume up to 200 litres per cycle while newer, more efficient models consume just 50.
