The Bravura dam in the Algarve will begin modernisation work in the coming weeks to prevent current water leaks, an initial investment of 11.2 million euros for the first phase.
António Marreiros, president of the Alvor Irrigators and Beneficiaries Association says,“it is a project worth 11 million and 200 thousand euros, plus VAT, and is supported by funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan. It is a project that will begin in the first half of this year, and will be completed during the year 2026”.
The Bravura dam, the second in Portugal with the lowest percentage of its capacity filled, had at the beginning of this week only 17% of its total capacity, just 5,819 of the 34,825 cubic decametres of its maximum limit, according to the weekly bulletin of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) on the water availability of Portuguese dams.
Also known as the Odiáxere dam, the Bravura Dam is located in Lagos, having been designed in 1955 and been in operation since 1958.
The project will have two phases, the first of which to modernise the Alvor irrigation perimeter will begin after choosing the company that will build a pumping station and a filtering station, with a reservoir with a water storage capacity for two days, as well as a section of the future main pipeline.
This first phase will be completed in 2026 and in the same year a second phase will begin, the amount of financing for which has not yet been defined, which foresees the pressurisation of the entire irrigation perimeter.
“Yes, we are always dependent on rain, but water management and water savings will be completely different. With the modernized perimeter, with pressurization, we will eliminate leaks and water losses by more than 90%,” assured António Marreiros.
In 2024, it was possible only to supply some water to farmers, but not every day: “It was in phases, every other week, but we had to keep the canal full, otherwise we would have been losing more water”.
“In order to have some water available for farmers, we need to reach 8,000 cubic decameters. We are still a little short, according to our contingency plan, of being able to provide water to farmers,” Marreiros stressed.
Due to the drought situation, in the last two years the water in the dam has been at very low levels and has only been used for public supply: “Our farmers have spent two years without enough water to grow crops, both seasonal and permanent crops”.
ARBA, which has around 900 beneficiaries with 1,800 hectares of surface area, has a contract with the State to manage, maintain and distribute water from the Bravura dam until 2031.
“At the moment, it is almost a crime to waste water. The investments will be very beneficial. Especially since the water from our dam, which was built for agricultural purposes, now also supplies the entire public sector, the public supply that is also essential in the region”, said João Mendes, owner and farmer who benefits greatly from the Alvor irrigation system.
The dam was initially built for agricultural purposes, but now it also serves public consumption needs, which includes the tourism sector, where large hotel villages and golf courses are located.
“The fact is that consumption has doubled in the last 30 years. The population of the Algarve was perhaps less than 400,000, and I think it is now around 600,000 or 700,000. And another thing is that in the past there were less than 100 tourist developments, and now there are thousands,” warned the farmer.
The Algarve is experiencing a drought, but as its stands, after the rains that have fallen since last November, it now has water in its six dams that can supply all types of consumers for more than a year.
Source https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/ - photo by ARBA
