News outlets today have seized on the details in an ERSAR (water regulator) report showing that almost 880,000 Portuguese households ‘consume water without public control’.
This essentially means the homes pump water from a borehole, or well of some kind.
Households that do this generally have a system of water filters (to ensure the water is drinkable), but reports today have gone straight from the observation of ‘without public control’ to ‘potentially dangerous’.
The truth will also be that authorities would like to have control of water consumed by Portuguese households, particularly when it comes from aquifers and other underground sources.
As a result, periodic census operations are held, to try and get a gist of all the properties fed by boreholes, etc.
ERSAR’s report is based on 2024 data – and it suggests that there are 273,000 homes without access to mains water, overwhelmingly in the Alentejo and the Algarve – but that the remaining 605,000 homes are using wells. The municipalities of Santo Tirso, Arouca, Amarante, Baião and Cinfães are those with the greatest number of homes without mains water connections.
Joaquim Poças Martins, hydraulic specialist (and former PSD secretary of state for the environment), has “alerted to the dangers of this type of consumption”, says SIC – “because contrary to the water that comes from boreholes and artesian wells, water from the public water supply is safe and of high quality”.
SIC adds that beyond the boreholes and artesian wells, “there are populations that rely on public water-fountains” to collect water. “Despite the efforts of managing authorities, which ensure the disinfection of 89% of public water supply sources, there are places where this control is still precarious or non-existent.”
In short, 2026 looks like becoming the year in which authorities mean to ‘get a grip’ on non-mains water consumption ‘once and for all’ – and start charging ‘more’ for it.
Expresso reports that “from 2026, ERSAR recovers its powers to increase water tariffs: in other words, the price at which the group Águas de Portugal sells municipalities the water that it captures and stores”.
A public consultation exercise in this regard is already running (as will public consultation on refuse collection). The increased charges however are unlikely to come into effect before 2028.
That said, a huge amount is clearly being done to ensure that citizens start paying a ‘realistic amount’ for the water they consume – so that services in place to provide it can be sustainable.
Sources: SIC Notícias/ Expresso
