“Everyone made an effort, but there are some sectors that complied more than others. The agriculture sector was the one that made the greatest effort”, highlighted Graça Carvalho, after the meeting of the Regional Sub-committee of the Southern Zone of the Reservoir Management Commission, held in Faro.

In May, the Government led by Luís Montenegro eased the restrictions imposed on water consumption in agriculture and the urban sector in the Algarve, initially defined in February by the previous executive, led by António Costa, to deal with the drought in the region.

“It was agreed that agriculture and tourism would make a 13% water-saving effort. Agriculture made 35%, villages and developments that signed up to the ‘Save Water’ seal saved 14%, golf made a big effort, saving 22%, and municipalities, which should have saved 10%, saved 9.6%”, the minister specified.

Graça Carvalho admitted, however, that “there is inequality” between municipalities, adding: “There are municipalities that saved a lot and others that didn’t save, they stayed more or less the same”.

In this sense, the Minister of Environment and Energy guaranteed that, until the end of the year, the restrictions defined in May will remain in place.

“There is no worsening because, on average, we managed to exceed what we wanted to save and, therefore, we can say: the Algarve, as a whole, saved more water than we intended. That is very good. We have 16 cubic hectometres more than last year at the same time. But last year was a year of very severe drought, and we have to continue making a great effort”, she pointed out.

The final report will be produced at the end of 2024 and the Government promises to act if municipalities or other sectors “continue not to save”, adjusting measures according to expenditure and water availability.

In addition to saving on consumption, the minister stressed that it is necessary to “have new sources of water” and highlighted the set of investments for the Algarve in this sector, budgeted at 360 million euros, with 260 million coming from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

Graça Carvalho said that the tender for the award of the desalination plant project, to be built in the municipality of Albufeira, “is already in the final phase”, and that 100% financing by the PRR will be guaranteed if the project is carried out quickly.

“If the project moves forward quickly, there will be no problem in it being entirely financed by the PRR, because we need projects that can be implemented quickly. If everything goes well, it can be financed 100% by the PRR. I hope that this is the solution”, said the minister.

The president of the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL), António Miguel Pina, warned in August that there is a shortage of 50 million euros to finance the construction of the future desalination plant, compared to the support provided for in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

“The project initially had a certain expected value and today, we know that it will be between 106, and 108 million [euros]. The two proposals presented were in that order of values, which means that there is a shortage of another 50 million [euros] to finance this investment 100%”, said the mayor at the time.