The Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, guaranteed today that, even with restrictions being eased, the Algarve will have water for consumption, but the Government will be attentive to “if it is necessary to tweak here and there”.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, on the sidelines of the Concordia European Summit on Wednesday, Maria da Graça Carvalho was peremptory in answering questions about the drought in the Algarve.
“Yes, it is possible to guarantee that the Algarve will have water. We did the math. The accounts are very consolidated on the assumption that any relief must guarantee that there is water for consumption for a year, even if there is no rain at all. But this is a dynamic assessment and, every two months, we will look at the measures and if it is necessary to tighten here and there, we will do so too”, said Maria da Graça Carvalho.
On Wednesday, the Government announced the easing of restrictions imposed on water consumption in agriculture and the urban sector of the Algarve, including tourism, to combat the drought in the Algarve region.
“The Government decided to revoke resolution 26A of 2024, of February 20, and in the coming weeks another resolution will be approved and published that aims to continue a policy of responsibility, but, even so, ease the restrictions that are currently in force”, stated the prime minister, after a meeting of the drought monitoring committee, in Faro.
Maria da Graça Carvalho said that the new resolution will go to the Council of Ministers in the week of June 10th, with the previous one, the one from February approved by the Government of António Costa, revoked when the new one comes into force.
The Minister of Environment and Energy highlighted that the new resolution “does not only have measures on relief”.
“There is a part about accelerating existing investments mainly from the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan) which is long overdue. Only 5% is executed. The majority is from Águas do Algarve and a part from the municipalities,” she said.
Asked if she fears loss of funding and opportunities, Maria da Graça Carvalho said that the guardianship will “monitor the projects and do everything to ensure that they move quickly” because, she added, “Portugal urgently needs to execute the PRR projects”.
“In the Algarve, only projects that already have investment allocated will produce an extra 76 cubic hectometers of water, which is the equivalent of urban consumption in the Algarve for one year”, she said.
In response to criticism from Algarve mayors who pointed out that they had not been heard about the change to the resolution, Maria da Graça Carvalho admitted that the meeting model would be changed.
“Mayors are heard. There are technical consultation meetings and all sectors in the region are heard. Then there is an interministerial meeting for decision and not for consultation. That's how it's defined. But we are thinking about revising it to provide a clearer format. So far we have followed what is stipulated, but we realized that we can optimize the format”, said the government official.
At issue is the format of the so-called Drought Commission, which is established in a resolution dating from 2017.
Finally, still on the topic of water and drought, Maria da Graça Carvalho took the opportunity to praise the campaign that several entities linked to tourism in the region are carrying out.
“Those who live in the Algarve are already aware that they have to save water. Those who visit us also have to be aware of this”, she concluded.
