“We have to create consensus on (the construction of) a second desalination plant for the region and find investments,” said the president of the Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR), José Apolinário.

During a talk at the “Water and Sustainability” conference, which is taking place today at the University of Algarve, in Faro, the person responsible highlighted that the climate is changing in the South “at a greater pace” than expected, insisting on the need for “there to be a consensus” to combat the lack of water in the region.

The regional leader also mentioned that the possibility of taking water from the Alqueva dam in the Alentejo to the Algarve had already been identified a few years ago, arguing that this possibility “cannot be left aside”.

José Apolinário pointed out the “growing feeling in the region” in the sense of executing the investments that are underway and which foresee the construction of a desalination plant and, also, of starting to think about what will come next.

“We believe it is time to study the construction of a second desalination plant [in the Algarve], to give [us] much greater robustness and independence from São Pedro. We cannot wait for it to rain”, defended the president of the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL), António Miguel Pina.

For the representative of the 16 municipalities in the southernmost region of the Continent, the country also has to study the option of taking water from the North to the South, even for good management of floods, which occur more frequently in the North, he added.

“We have to break away from the prejudice of transferring water from the North to the South”, because “the water that falls in the North has to reach the South”, insisted António Miguel Pina, who is also the mayor of Olhão.

Another mayor present at the conference was the president of the Chamber of Faro, Rogério Bacalhau, who suggested to the Minister of the Environment an increase in production capacity for the desalination unit planned for the region.

The vice-president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), José Pimenta Machado, assured that there is openness to other solutions, arguing that one can and should “analyze everything”, but that, at this moment, the focus must be on implementing the Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PRR) for Portugal.

Águas do Algarve has already delivered the environmental impact study for the future desalination plant in the Algarve, and is now awaiting the green light from APA to open the tender for its construction.

The new freshwater production unit from salt water should be located in Albufeira, being financed under the PRR, with an investment of around 50 million euros.

The desalination plant will produce 16 million cubic meters of water, which represents more than 20% of the Algarve's public supply needs, estimated at 72 million cubic meters, according to Águas do Algarve.