“We have to know how to manage water well to prepare for the coming years, which will certainly be years of drought and reduced precipitation”, warns the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA). NAt this moment, the water reserves of the six dams in the Algarve, on average, are at 72% of their capacity.
The Algarve dams are at an average of 72% of their capacity and have enough water to guarantee urban consumption for three to four years, said this Wednesday the president of (WHAT).
José Pimenta Machado gave the Lusa agency an overview of the situation of water reserves in the region and warned that, although the Algarve recorded, in November, “the best situation in the last 10 years” in terms of stored surface water, it is necessary to remember that the drought is not over and it is necessary to continue the “exemplary” effort made to improve water efficiency.
Asked how long the Algarve will have water to guarantee consumption, Pimenta Machado replied that reserves for urban consumption are guaranteed for three to four years, even if the region has “very bad years”, but reiterated the need for efficient water management.
“We have to know how to manage water well to prepare for the coming years, which will certainly be years of drought and reduced precipitation. […] Some sectors say that the drought has passed, but nothing has passed. It’s a situational situation, now we’re lucky, but we have to prepare for the years to come”, he explained.
According to the person responsible, at the moment, the water reserves of the six dams in the Algarve, on average, are at 72% of their capacity, which represents 322 cubic hectometers, with emphasis on the Odelouca dam, “which is fundamental for the windward area [oeste] and is at 77%”.
The president of APA highlighted that the main dam in the leeward (east) area, Odeleite, is at 76%, a value that means the two largest dams in the Algarve are “almost at 80%” of their capacity “in the middle of the wet season” and when it is still expected that it will rain more throughout the winter.
José Pimenta Machado also highlighted the volume of water recorded in the Funcho dam, located on the windward side and one of the hardest hit by the drought, which reached 80% and is already releasing releases.
“Storm Cláudia made it possible to recover 05%. On average, we went from 67%, across the six reservoirs, to 72%”, further quantified the president of the Portuguese environmental agency.
Pimenta Machado stressed that, with the data recorded in November, the Algarve region is in the “best situation ever in the last 10 years” in terms of water storage in dams.
“But we can never forget that, in January 2024, we were in the worst situation ever. It wasn’t that long ago”, he countered, recalling that the Algarve then had “water for four to five months, it didn’t have any more”, a situation that led the Government to apply, in the region, restriction measures on urban consumption, agriculture and tourism.
The president of APA therefore defended the need to “continue to use water conscientiously” and continue the work carried out in the Algarve to improve the region’s water efficiency.
This is work that is an “example in the country and even at the level of the European Union” and must continue, he appealed, remembering that the drought left the region in a “very difficult period”, which led to the application of consumption restrictions to the main sectors of activity, such as tourism or agriculture.
Although the region’s dams are at 72%, the recovery in underground water bodies, such as aquifers, “was not significant”, he said.
“We need more rain, continually, for the groundwater masses to repair themselves. They, in fact, were greatly sacrificed during the drought,” he stated.
Pimenta Machado pointed to the Querença-Silves aquifer as an example, the main underground reserve in the Algarve, which has “very low values” and a level of “less than 20%” of its capacity, he warned.
