Rain brings relief to Algarve dams: water levels rising
Portugal Resident
Water levels have increased five percentage points thanks to recent rain
The six reservoirs and dams that supply the Algarve region were on Monday at 34% of their total water storage capacity, having risen by five percentage points due to recent rainfall, according to data from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).
The Algarve’s reservoirs and dams now have a total volume of around 154 cubic hectometres (hm3), which translates to 34% of their total storage capacity.
Thanks to recent rainfall, an additional 26hm3 were collected at the reservoirs and dams, which is “equivalent to 35% of the needs of the urban and tourism sectors,” the president of APA told Lusa news agency.
This does not mean that the region can rest on its laurels, stressed José Pimenta Machado, adding that water-saving measures must remain in effect as the Algarve can just as easily go through another long period of no rain.
“We’re better off than we were before, but we must maintain the same goal, the same plan to save water in the different sectors. In other words, for the urban sector, 10%, and for agriculture and tourism, 13%,” he said.
On the other hand, compared to the same period in 2023, there has been an increase of approximately 39 hm3 of stored water, with the reservoirs and dams’ water levels rising from 115 hm3 in the same period last year (26% of capacity) to 154 hm3 (34%).
“The plan presented in May, with the easing of water cuts, is in line with the available water reserves,” insisted the APA president.
The government decided in May to ease the restrictions previously imposed on water consumption in the Algarve’s agriculture and urban sectors, including tourism, to cope with the region’s drought.
The restrictions imposed on water consumption were reduced from 25% to 13% in agriculture and from 15% to 10% in the urban sector.
The reservoirs and dams in the sotavento (east) – where it rained the most recently – are where water levels increased the most with the recent wet weather.
The Odeleite dam is now at 46% of its capacity (59.36 hm3), the Beliche dam at 38% (18.09 hm3) and the Funcho dam at 37 % (17.70 hm3).
In the west, the situation is more worrisome, with the Odelouca dam at 31% of its capacity (49.16 hm3), the Arade dam at 17% (4.88 hm3) and the Bravura dam at 13% (4.40 hm3).
Following the stormy weather that hit the Algarve between Thursday and Friday, Pimenta Machado expressed a message of ‘solidarity’ to the people affected, praising the municipalities and regional Civil Protection for the work they did.
According to the weather bulletin of the Portuguese Sea and Atmosphere Institute (IPMA) released last Friday, there was a very significant decrease in the area in meteorological drought in mainland Portugal in October.
In the Lower Alentejo and the Algarve there was a decrease in the intensity of the meteorological drought, and at the end of October these regions were in the weak drought category.
Source: LUSA
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