Lagoa says that the calculation is “dishonest”
Lagoa Municipal Council has released a statement denying that it is the municipality with the highest water consumption in Portugal, as reported in recent news articles.
“In name of the truth, the Municipality of Lagoa states that it is not the borough that consumes the most water, much less in the Algarve,” the council says in a statement to the press.
The statement explains that the articles give off the wrong idea, as the value cited is “estimated per inhabitant” and does not take tourists into account.
While Lagoa only has just under 24,000 residents, the number in the summer months can grow up to 100,000 people who “use water to drink, to shower and to wash clothes or dishes,” the council stresses.
“For four months, the population of the municipality is multiplied by four. (…) The Municipality of Lagoa finds it dishonest that consumption is calculated only by taking the 23,734 residents into account, giving the wrong idea that the people of Lagoa care little or not at all about such a scarce and essential commodity,” it adds.
The council says it is not surprising that Albufeira and Loulé – which stand out as the other boroughs with the most hotels in the Algarve – are the municipalities that come next on the list of highest water consuming municipalities.
In Lagoa’s opinion, the key takeaway from the findings should be that tourism is an activity that generates wealth and employment in Lagoa, and that it has “resilient” infrastructures that are prepared to host large influxes of tourists.
The council also says it has made “considerable financial efforts” to replace water pipes in the supply network, having used funds from the European ‘bazooka’ (Recovery and Resilience Plan) to create 11 Water Measuring and Control Zones in Porches, to the tune of €600,000. Another €1.7 million is also being invested in creating another 47 of these zones in the borough.
“With this intervention, the territory of Lagoa will be covered by a system that will allow us to detect water leaks, even those that aren’t visible at the surface, and detect where there is an abnormal amount of pressure, creating a larger risk of ruptures,” the council says. These improvements carried out so far have already led to a 6% reduction of water losses from 2022 to 2023, it adds.
In addition to this data, (…) Lagoa was the municipality in the Algarve with the highest reduction in water consumption in the urban sector during the year 2023, compared to the year 2022, the council says.
“This is the commitment of the Municipality of Lagoa and all the people of Lagoa: to continue working to preserve such a precious resource for everyone, vital for life.”
michael.bruxo@portugalresident.com
