The government plans to demolish thousands of dams across Portugal which no longer are justifiable on environmental grounds.
A working group set up by the Government is to draw up a list of obsolete dams by the end of the first quarter of 2017 devise a demolition schedule.
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Carlos Martins, said "There are a significant number of dams that have reached the end of their useful life and that today, from a social and environmental point of view, no longer justify their existence."
The Government intends to see these demolished to allow the "natural flow" of water in the hydrographic network, explained Carlos Martins, after attending the start of the demolition of the Misericórdia dam in Beja.
This dam and the Sardinha dam in Serpa began to be demolished under the Global Strategy for the Replacement of the Fluvial Network, (Estratégia Global de Reposição do Continuum Fluvial ) which aims to restore the characteristics of some of Portugal’s river systems and to improve associated habitats.
According to Secretary of State, the two Alentejo dams are part of eight already identified to be demolished and in addition to these, the working group will identify, "from over six thousand dams in Portugal,” those that are obsolete and can be demolished.
The Secretary of State said the demolition costs of private dams will be borne by the owners and the State.
"There will be some demolition work paid for by public funds, because the dams were constructed by public entities," said Martins.
The demolition of the two Alentejo dams will allow the farming of 12 hectares of land in Beja and about 18 hectares in Serpa.
According to Secretary of State, the demolition of the Misericórdia dam is only possible due to the Alqueva dam infrastructure that has enabled irrigation in the area.
The farmer and owner of the Misericórdia dam, André Casadinho, said the demolition of the structure will cost around €50,000, but in return he will gain 12 productive hectares of land where he wants to grow grain, rape seed or corn.
Comments
Huge areas of Portuguese farmland lie fallow, because the cost of production is higher than the value of the produce. Not because 0.5% is taken up by holding ponds.
The reasons are many; but the cost [or impossibility] of irrigation is high on the list. Today’s energy prices make modern high pressure systems very expensive to operate. The old holding ponds are often set in the hills above the fields, allowing zero cost gravity feed; but with higher labor costs.
But who needs farm jobs, when a 50,000 subsidy can be had to pay for €2,000 of bulldozer work?
Although these ponds are manmade, and so by definition ‘unnatural’, they are havens for a huge variety of wildlife, from plants and bugs to birds and mammals. So is the idea to return the land to nature, or to increase farming? Because you really can’t have it both ways.
I’ve been asking people in the agriculture business [in Portugal and other countries] why production is so difficult here when conditions seem so ideal. The answer; bureaucracy, taxes, and fees. As well as a court system that makes contracts not worth the paper they’re printed on.
The problem is not the old baragems.