São Brás de Alportel Council is starting a project to analyse the consumption of water, which "is a precious asset for the population, but one that is increasingly scarce due to climate change and drought."
The Council has been working on water efficiency since last October when it started its Municipal Water Savings Plan which has led to this latest stage.
The Council project is to control and monitor water consumption in the hilly areas of the municipality where people are supplied directly by the Council, i.e. households are nowhere near the wider municipal water supply system that supplies more populous areas.
The pilot project is focussing on the north of the county, including Cerro da Ursa, Monte Capitanes, Lages, Cabanas, Fronteira and Alfarrobeira where equipment will control and monitor local water consumption.
This hilly, arid area which has been heavily affected by water shortages in recent drought years, is the guinea pig in a project that aims to extend to the wider mountain area.
After monitoring consumption patterns, the Council plans to ‘create some procedures’ to save water and to distribute it in a more equitable way.
This last comment is what worries locals as the Council is not know for its generosity - the fear is that water prices will go up, not down.
