Project faces “several court cases”; is not slam dunk certainty reports may suggest
Following a number of press reports recently suggesting the Algarve desalination plant is going full steam ahead, local company SEACLIFF COMPRA E VENDA DE IMÓVEIS, S.A., has set the record straight.
In a press release sent to newsrooms today, the company reiterates that the project to build a desalination plant in the Algarve sea in the municipality of Albufeira is pending several court cases, which it identifies as:
- A process to challenge the Declaration of Public Utility.
- A lawsuit for improper execution of the expropriation of the land
- A lawsuit challenging the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
“The plaintiffs in these lawsuits have every confidence in the court and in the Portuguese judicial system”, says the press statement.
“Despite the fact that this project is supported by the Portuguese state through public bodies such as the Portuguese Environment Agency and the Ministry of the Environment, this is a project based on a huge lie.
“The lie that this desalination plant will solve the Algarve’s water problem. It won’t. But more than not solving the water problem, it is going to cause a whole host of problems, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
“The desalination plant does not have the capacity to produce the water that the Algarve needs. It is a desalination plant that uses obsolete technology. In order to operate, it needs huge amounts of energy and energy from polluting sources, although there is a photovoltaic project associated with the project.
“This desalination plant will have a huge impact on biodiversity, marine life and the quality of seawater. It will affect protected marine areas, such as Pedra do Valado and Ria Formosa. And it will have devastating effects on fishing and tourism.
“This desalination plant is the ultimate representation of the bad policies with which the territory is managed and represents contempt for people, businesses and ways of life.
“Bad policy kills. It kills biodiversity, it kills business and, in the long term, it kills people.
“Praia da Falésia, considered one of the best beaches in the world, will be destroyed. No one wants to go to a beach where pipes pass by, some carrying water full of life, of biodiversity; others discharging the product of the death that has been produced by the manufacture of the drinking water.
“The completely illegal way in which the location for the desalination plant was chosen destroys the idea of ‘quality of life’ that the Portuguese state and tour operators have been selling for years.
“It is regrettable that the Municipality of Albufeira and its executive have not shown any opposition to this process. It is also regrettable that the same mayor who submissively and uncritically accepted that the desalination plant project be installed in his municipality has accepted a position as a member of the board of directors of Águas do Algarve – the entity behind the project.
“It is bad politics, it is a bad project, it is a betrayal of the people of the Algarve and, above all, of those who live, work, generate employment and have chosen this place to make their lives, personally and/or professionally”.
Seacliff has always been a bitter opponent of the plan – along with stalwarts of the Sustainable Water Platform – and believes there is still time to reconsider.
“Go back and implement the measures set out, for example, in the inter-municipal climate change adaptation plan, which nobody seems to want to care about.
- remodelling the urban water supply system with a view to reducing losses;
- treat and reuse wastewater for agricultural and other purposes;
- implement techniques that promote the artificial recharge of aquifers;
- reassess the feasibility of new dams and promote their construction;
- reassess the feasibility of a desalination plant and promote its construction.
“These measures are in order of implementation”. In other words, in Seacliff’s view, the feasibility of a desalination plant should come last. Indeed, the minister of environment has said this in the past…
“No mayor, no politician, either local or national, neither APA (Portugal’s Agency for the Environment) nor the ICNF (institute for Conservation of Nature and Forestries), nobody has bothered to implement the first three recommendations. (It implies) a lot of work for few votes. In fact, some of the measures could even lose votes. After all, who wants bumpy streets for months on end? What farmer wants to replace the borehole that feeds his crops with a system that allows wastewater to be reused?
“So far, APA prefers to approve projects that are highly damaging to the environment, rather than promoting and implementing techniques that promote the recharging of aquifers.
“The Intermunicipal Climate Change Adaptation Plan dates back to 2016. Eight years later, incompetence and neglect have led us to a desalination plant.
“Confidence in the courts is complete and remains intact. We trust that they will be able to prove how damaging this desalination plant is, not just for Albufeira, but for the entire Algarve region”.
SEACLIFF COMPRA E VENDA DE IMÓVEIS, S.A.
