Following the rains recorded in October, and the effects of drought in the Algarve, the ministry said that "the total volume stored" in regional dams is 145 cubic hectometres of water and public supply is assured until 2023 if precipitation does not allow recovery of reserves.

MAAC clarified that the figure of 145 hectometres refers to the total volume stored in the Algarve region's six reservoirs - Arade, Bravura, Funcho, and Odelouca, in the western Algarve, and Beliche and Odeleite, in the eastern Algarve - and noted that measures have been adopted to promote a strategy to control consumption and water availability.

"In the Algarve region, the volume stored in the reservoirs is around 145 hm3 [cubic hectometres], which guarantees a year's supply for public consumption. The total volumes stored in the reservoirs have remained without much variation since September," said the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action (MAAC).

The lack of water in the Algarve, one of the regions of the country most affected by drought, is visible in the data made available on 4 November by Águas do Algarve, according to which the levels of the three dams under its management (Odelouca, Beliche, and Odeleite) vary between 17 and 14%.

In total, the three dams have the capacity to store close to 280 cubic hectometres of useful volume, but on 4 November, only 45.17 cubic hectometres were available - 19.89 in Odelouca (15.52%), 18.90 in Odeleite (17.37%) and 06.38 cubic hectometres in Beliche (14.88%).

The MAAC stressed that management is being done "under the permanent commission for the prevention, monitoring, and follow-up of the effects of drought, created in 2017, and under the Management Council of Reservoirs," and the main objective is to "safeguard public supply as a priority use."