The six dams that supply the Algarve were at 34% of their total water storage capacity this Monday, having increased by five percentage points with the rains of the last few days, according to data from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).
The Algarve dams total a volume of around 154 cubic hectometers (hm3), corresponding to 34% of the total storage capacity, with “these rains of the last few days allowing 26 hm3 to be accommodated, which is equivalent to 35% of the needs of the urban and tourism”, the president of APA told Lusa.
Despite an improvement in the situation in the region of the country most affected by the drought, José Pimenta Machado defended the need to maintain savings measures, as it is not known what the evolution of water volumes will be in the future.
“We are better than we were before, but we have to maintain the same objective, the same plan to save water in the different sectors. In other words, for the urban sector 10% and for agriculture and tourism 13%”, he stated.
On the other hand, compared to the same period in 2023, there is an increase of approximately 39 hm3 of stored water, with the capacity of dams increasing from 115 hm3 in the same period (26% of capacity) to 154 hm3 (34%).
“The model presented in May, with the relief from cuts, is in line with available water reserves”, insisted the president of APA.
The Government decided in May to ease restrictions previously imposed on water consumption in agriculture and the urban sector of the Algarve, including tourism, to face the drought in the region.
Restrictions imposed on water consumption increased from 25% to 13% in agriculture and from 15% to 10% in the urban sector.
The dams in the lee (east) are the ones that absorbed the most water with last week’s rains, as it was in this area of the Algarve where the precipitation was most intense.
The Odeleite dam is now at 46% of its capacity (59.36 hm3), the Beliche dam at 38% (18.09 hm3) and the Funcho dam at 37% (17.70 hm3).
In the windward (west) the percentages are less important, with the Odelouca dam recording 31% of its capacity (49.16 hm3), the Arade dam 17% (4.88 hm3) and the Bravura dam with 13% (4, 40 hm3).
Following the rains that hit the Algarve between Thursday and Friday last week, Pimenta Machado wanted to leave a message of “solidarity” to the affected populations, praising the municipalities and the regional Civil Protection for the work they did.
According to the Climatological Bulletin of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere () released last Friday, in October there was a very significant decrease in the area under meteorological drought in mainland Portugal.
In Baixo Alentejo and Algarve there was a decrease in the intensity of the meteorological drought, with these regions in the weak drought class at the end of October.
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