Maria da Graça Carvalho was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the Lagos Wastewater Treatment Station (WWTP), one of the events scheduled for the Algarve yesterday, as part of Environment Day, to highlight the importance of water and for the economy of the region.

“Water is a priority for our Government and water in the Algarve is still a greater priority, if I may say so because it is the region of the country with the most water shortage problems, it is no longer a drought, it has become permanent, and therefore we already live in a time of scarcity and we have to act”, stated the minister.

Maria Graça Carvalho specified that the form of action has already been defined and consists of a “set of measures that includes water saving campaigns, the reuse of [treated] water, mainly for golf courses, irrigation, washing, and having projects to reduce losses because there are still losses in water distribution in many municipalities in the Algarve”.

The government official stressed that it is also necessary to “make existing infrastructure resilient” and build new ones, when everything that has already been done is not enough, as is the case in the Algarve.

“We have financing for all this in the PRR [Recovery and Resilience Plan], the Environmental Fund and, from Tourism, we already have 260 million euros. The biggest chunk is the PRR, around 240 million euros, which is still barely implemented, at 5%, and it is necessary to move faster and execute these infrastructures”, she considered.

Graça Carvalho stressed that there is guaranteed financing for the connection between the west and the east Algarve, for the intake of water from the Guadiana from Pomarão to the Odeleite dam, and for the desalination plant that will be located in Albufeira.

“It is necessary to execute this quickly because the PRR ends in 2026, and then the Prime Minister announced on the 22nd a set of new investments, worth 103 million, and in addition to those we already had available, we have these, which are very necessary to execute”, she highlighted.

The Minister of the Environment stressed that, at this moment, the most important task is to " get this equipment running as quickly as possible, because this set of works will provide the Algarve with 76 cubic hectometers of water per year".

This value “corresponds to one year's urban consumption in the Algarve”, highlighted the government official, arguing that “this opportunity cannot be wasted”, because from 2026 “it will no longer be possible to use” the financing.

“Therefore, now it is time to use this financing so that water resilience in the Algarve, if we do not increase consumption, is resolved”, she added.

Graça Carvalho said that the Government would revoke the February resolution that decreed cuts to water consumption in the Algarve region and prepare a new resolution, which “is practically ready” and should be taken to the Council of Ministers next week.

The minister began by participating in the inauguration of the renovation of the Lagos WWTP, an investment of 17 million euros, and then went on to close the conference “Water Resilience in the Algarve - our common purpose”. The programme ended with a meeting with the mayor of Faro, Rogério Bacalhau.

On February 5, António Costa's government declared an alert situation in the region due to the drought, but at the end of May, the current prime minister, Luís Montenegro, announced the easing of restrictions imposed on agriculture and the urban sector, which includes tourism.

With the revocation of the previous Government's resolution, the new executive updated the restrictions imposed on water consumption, which went from 25% to 13% in agriculture and from 15% to 10% in the urban sector, however, approval is still awaited of a new resolution in the Council of Ministers.