This position was unanimously approved at a meeting of the inter-municipal council of the Baixo Alentejo Intermunicipal Community (CIMBAL), which comprises 13 of the 14 municipalities in the Beja district (the exception is Odemira).

In the document, sent today to Lusa agency, CIMBAL states that the project to capture water from the Guadiana to supply the Algarve, through a pipeline to the Odeleite reservoir, in the municipality of Castro Marim (Faro), was under public consultation until April 29th.

The proposal received a negative opinion from the Chamber of Mértola and the Association of Municipalities for the Management of Public Water of Alentejo (AMGAP), among others.

The municipality of Mértola reminds CIMBAL, is “one of the territories most susceptible to desertification” and is struggling “with water scarcity and high water stress, worsened by longer periods of drought”.

“In addition, many of the localities [in this municipality] are supplied using underground water sources”, reads the document, in which it is recalled that, “for long periods, the only resource for public supply is frequent transport using autotank”.

According to CIMBAL, this is what is happening in the parish of Espírito Santo, where the project prepared by the company Águas do Algarve, S.A. envisages the creation of a surface water catchment in the estuarine area of ​​the Guadiana river, next to the town of Mesquita.

In this context, “it will make perfect sense for a combination of efforts to help solve the problem of lack of water in this parish in the municipality of Mértola, taking advantage of the project to reinforce the water supply to the Algarve”, argues CIMBAL.

In the document, the inter-municipal community urges everyone involved “to seek conditions for the public supply of water to localities in the parish of Espírito Santo, based on the proposed project or other technically and financially more convenient solutions”.

CIMBAL adds that the position will be sent to various entities, such as the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Portuguese Environment Agency, Águas do Algarve, Águas Públicas do Alentejo and regional coordination and development commissions for Alentejo and Algarve, among others.

The project to capture water from the Guadiana River in Pomarão to supply the Algarve, included in that region's Regional Water Efficiency Plan, is valued at around 61.5 million euros and is supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

The investment “will make it possible to reinforce the guarantee and increase the resilience of the Algarve’s multi-municipal urban water supply system, given the expected and already felt effects of climate change”, according to the conclusions of the non-technical summary of the Environmental Impact Study (EIA), consulted by Lusa.

In addition to CIMBAL, the Chamber of Mértola, and AMGAP, the project is also contested by the environmental associations Zero and Plataforma Água Sustentável (PAS).