Imagine waking up in the 21st century, in a developed country, a proud member of the European Union, only to find that you and your neighbors are about to lose access to something as basic and essential as water.
This nightmare is about to become a reality for the residents of Foral, also known as Quinta da Larga Vista, a small but vibrant community of 80 households in the parish of Algoz. The Municipal Council of Silves (CMS) has turned a deaf ear to our pleas, citing high costs as the reason for refusing to connect us to the municipal water network.
On July 23rd, Fonte Pitoresca, the private company that has been our lifeline, announced that it will stop supplying water to our homes on December 31st, 2024. For decades, we have depended on this water, both for domestic use and irrigation. Now, we face an uncertain future, as the company gives notice that it can no longer sustain its service due to restrictions and financial constraints.
For years, we have been asking CMS to connect us to the municipal water network, a request that has been consistently denied. A small number of residents have boreholes but they too are under stress or drying up, and yet, CMS remains unmoved.
Adding to our despair, the authorities have approved a massive 96-hectare solar farm on our northern border (Annex I), an area crucial for aquifer recharge. This project threatens to deplete our already stressed groundwater sources further, so we are fighting this in court. On the southern border of Foral, an industrial scale avocado farm and all around us many other large scale citrus farms are sucking up huge amounts of water from our shared source of groundwater. It is unacceptable that CMS refuses to provide us with water, while approving or turning a blind eye to projects that jeopardize our existing sources.
Our demands of CMS are simple and just:
1- Connect Foral to the municipal water network as soon as practically possible.
2- If Fonte Pitoresca ceases its service, CMS must take over the existing infrastructure or provide a temporary solution until we are connected to the municipal network.
Water is not just a utility; it is a basic human right. Without it, our lives and our community are at risk. We feel abandoned by the authorities who should be protecting us.
We urgently call on everyone to support us by signing our petition to CMS ( https://www.change.org/precisamos-de-agua ) to secure our community’s access to water.
For more information and to express your support, please contactassociationdemoradores@gmail.com
