Citizens can make their voices heard until April 29
The Environmental Impact Study of the project to supply the Algarve with water collected from the Guadiana River at Pomarão, in the Alentejo municipality of Mértola, is under public consultation until April 29.
Representing a €61.5 million investment covered by Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), the project is expected to provide around 16 cubic hectometres of fresh water per year for the Algarve.
According to the non-technical summary of the project’s Environmental Impact Study, the process will involve capturing surface water from the river and channelling it to the Odeleite dam in Castro Marim.
“The project will increase the resilience of the Algarve’s multi-municipal urban water supply system in light of the effects of climate change,” the project’s summary states, adding that the Odeleite and Beliche dams will only become more depleted if nothing is done.
The dams are currently limited to around 73 cubic hectometres of consumption per year, 45 cubic hectometres of which are used for “urban supply.” The Pomarão water collection plan is expected to contribute with 16 cubic hectometres per year, potentially reaching 21 cubic hectometres in the “current hydrological conditions”.
The plan is to pump water from Pomarão to the dam “only seven months of the year, between October and April,” stopping in the “exceptionally dry months,” or when “since the start of the hydrological year, an annual total of 30 cubic hectometres has been reached.
Three possible routes for the required pipeline are offered, ranging between 37km and 41km in the municipalities of Mértola, Alcoutim and Castro Marim.
Included among the potential negative consequences of the project are possible changes to the water quality at the Odeleite and Beliche dams, changes to habitats and “biological communities,” and the spread of invasive exotic water species.
The collection of water at Pomarão is just one of the measures included in the Algarve’s Regional Water Efficiency Plan, which is backed by €200 million of RRP funding. The other most notable project included in the plan is the construction of a desalination plant in Albufeira.
The entire Algarve has been on alert due to its extreme drought situation since February when the government approved a set of restrictions on water consumption, with the goal of cutting consumption in the urban sector by 15% and in the agricultural sector by 25%. Other measures include reducing losses in the public water supply network, increasing the reuse of treated wastewater, and suspending the granting of new licences for the use of water resources.
The Environmental Impact Study of the Pomarão water collection project can be consulted until April 29 by searching for ‘Reforço do Abastecimento de Água ao Algarve – Solução da Tomada de Água no Pomarão’ at www.participa.pt.
michael.bruxo@portugalresident.com
