“We really have to focus and invest heavily in energy efficiency and in the good use of water resources to be able to ensure that there is water for agriculture, so that we have food and, therefore, we can survive on this planet”, he said.

António Costa was speaking at a session of the “Closest Government” initiative held at the Álamos Elevatory Station, Portel municipality, Évora district, which he himself dubbed as “the heart of the Alqueva Multipurpose Enterprise (EFMA)”.

According to the Prime Minister, one of the “great topics” of the Council of Ministers to be held in Évora will be the approval for public discussion of the Alentejo Water Efficiency Plan.

“It is very important, strategically important, not only for the Alentejo but for the whole country, the adoption of these water efficiency plans accompanied by the Water Efficiency Pact, which we have to sign in each of the regions”, he said.

Highlighting the importance of optimising the capture and use of water, through the elimination of losses, Costa stressed that it will also be necessary to “adapt the territories to needs” and to the “evolution of available resources”.

“If there is one thing that we can be sure of, it is that we will not have more water in the future than we have today and, therefore, we have to use it better”, so “there are certain activities that we have to privilege to the detriment of others”, he stressed.

In his speech, the head of government underlined, among other examples, that, in this decade, Portugal had “six of the 10 driest years ever” and that the countries of the Iberian Peninsula “had a decrease of about 15% of precipitation”