Minister: Alentejo and Algarve have water for two years but water works need to be accelerated

The Alentejo and Algarve have guaranteed water for the next two years, but it is necessary to “accelerate the water works” currently underway in these regions, highlighted Maria da Graça Carvalho, Minister of Environment and Energy.

Speaking to journalists in Mértola, the minister said that the rainy winter that Portugal experienced was “an episode” and that, therefore, everyone in the country must “be prepared for long periods without rain”.

“All the data we have from the last eight years shows that the amount of rain in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, namely Andalusia, Algarve and Alentejo, has been decreasing and that is what we have to be prepared for in the future,” stressed the minister.

Maria da Graça Carvalho was speaking to journalists at the end of a bilateral meeting of the Plenary Council of EuroAAA – Euroregion Alentejo – Algarve – Andalusia , held on Thursday, May 8, in Mértola.

The minister noted that, although the Alentejo and Algarve regions currently have water available for “two years”, it is not time to ignore this problem of water supply and drought.

We need to “continue to speed up the works we have underway to reduce water losses”, namely the water intake from Pomarão to the Algarve, the Albufeira desalination plant and the water connection between the Barlavento and Sotavento regions of the Algarve, he specified.

The EuroAAA meeting, which was also attended by Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, President of the Junta de Andalusia, took place at the Mértola Biological Station.

The meeting aimed to “deepen dialogue in strategic areas such as water resources management, biodiversity and energy, focusing on common challenges and opportunities for collaboration to promote sustainable development in the southern region of the Iberian Peninsula”.

Regarding the new Lower Guadiana Strategy, the Minister of Environment and Energy said that it is the result of cooperation between the three EuroAAA regions, in which the Guadiana is a link that unites them and has several dimensions.

“There is the environmental dimension, of biodiversity, of preserving the river, of naturalizing the river banks, but there is also the transport aspect, making this river more navigable [and] the need to carry out some works in relation to [its] dredging,” he said.

The meeting also allowed the analysis of the Euroregion's 2023/2024 activity report and the celebration of the transfer of the EuroAAA presidency to the Algarve, until 2027.

The presidency of this working community rotates, for two-year periods and for each of the regions.