Prime Minister Luís Montenegro
Plan provides for the construction of new dams, loss reduction and interconnection between watersheds. It has an estimated investment of 5 billion euros by 2030.
To face water shortage In the country, as foreseen in Parliament by the Minister of Presidency António Leitão Amaro, last week, the government presented the national strategy “Water that unites” This Sunday, which foresees to increase water availability and improve its management and reduce waste.
With an estimated investment in 5 billion euros By 2030, the plan provides for the construction of New Damsloss reduction in different systems and, as a last resort, interconnection between watersheds. In total there are almost 300 measures to be implemented over 15 years, with the main objective of optimizing water use, especially wastewater.
One of the major projects of the new strategy is the production of 116 cubic hectimeters of wastewater until 2040through more than 300 wastewater stations, but the strategy points to an increase of 1,139 cubic hectimeters (measurement of the amount of water stored in dams) of availability.
The plan provides for the construction of new dams, namely the Alvito Damin the Ocurity River, and the modernization of hydraulic infrastructures, particularly in the regions of Alentejo and Algarve, where the agricultural sector, often accused of waste, will be the target of modernization in the Hydroagricians of Mira and Alvor.
Currently, water scarcity affects virtually all Portugal watersheds, except the north, particularly in the Alto Minho region. The most affected basins are those of Alentejo and Algarve, regions where the problem is most serious.
The projects announced, by area
No Nortethe modernization of the Hydroagrícola Valley of the Valley of the Valley, Implementation of the Regadium Program in various locations, the increase in the capacity of the Pinhão (Vila Real), Vila Chã (Alijó), Sambade (Alfândega da Flor) and Vila Flor), removal of obsolete hydraulic infrastructures (ensecaders) from Rio Côa and the Entrepreneurship Multiple purposes of the low flavor dam and your mouth.
In the region of Vouga, Mondego and Lis Environmental rehabilitation interventions of the Lis Basin (Leiria), a program to promote the water efficiency of the Aveiro region, the modernization of low Mondego hydroacrycola use, a study “to evaluate the viability of the construction of the girabolhos dam” in Seia, and a reinforcement of the water supply to the municipalities of the Viseu region.
No TEJOthere are investments such as the modernization of the hydroagrication use of Idanha-a-Nova, study for the construction of the Alvito Dam, near Vila Velha de Ródão, a project of agricultural valorization of Water Resources of the Tagus and West and a feasibility study of the connection of Tagus and Guadiana basins.
No Alentejoan interconnection is planned between Alqueva and Mira, a program to reinforce the efficiency of water systems as well as a total modernization of aiming aim.
Already in Algarveamong others, the completion of the modernization of the utility and feasibility studies for the construction of two dams is planned.
For Luís Montenegro, the biggest problem is not the lack of water, but the lack of management capacity and the high waste rate: only 10% of water availability is used, and the rest is wasted, the Prime Minister said.
But the country faces a new political crisis, with a motion of trust scheduled to be debated and voted on Tuesday. If the government falls, the future of the “water that unites” strategy is attached to an uncertainty and at the mercy of early elections, which should be held between May 11 and 18.
