Castro Marim ratepayers will be chipping in 70% towards the total cost of creating a beach at the Odeleite reservoir.
The balance of the total spend of €320,000, will come from European Funds under CRESC 2020.
The new 6,100 m2 beach will be opened 'before the summer' and will have green areas and all the usual equipment.
The council, keen to use the word 'sustainable' at every opportunity, said it hopes that the new beach will encourage other activities, such as canoeing, by “diversifying the tourist offer and contribute to the sustainability of the rural territory.”
Castro Marim’s mayor, Francisco Amaral, said this is just a first step in the Odeleite Dam development plan, "It is a job that will boost the tourism that already exists in this area through gastronomy and landscape, and that brings to a halt the current illegal and dangerous use of the reservoir for bathing in, as it has been happening."
The location of the Odeleite river beach accords with the area’s development plan, approved by the Council of Ministers in 2014, which aims to safeguard resources and nature and put in place a management regime to make sure everything works in harmony.
The Odeleite Dam was built between 1992 and 1998 and is the main reservoir for the eastern Algarve.
The reservoir is shaped like a blue dragon, a symbol of power, strength and good luck in Chinese culture, as well as being an emblem that was traditionally used by the emperors throughout history.
This dragon effect has attracted the attention of many visitors, who started to refer to it as the 'River of the Blue Dragon.'
