In a statement, the Sustainable Water Platform (PAS) claims that the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) issued on April 3 by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) regarding the Preliminary Study of the Algarve Seawater Desalination Station Project (EDAM ) “does not meet the requirements that allow it to be classified as an EIS and violates national and European laws”.

According to the “complaint” presented to the magistrate of the Public Ministry of the Judicial Court of the District of Faro, it is requested that the institution “activate the necessary legal means with a view to declaring the invalidity of the EIS issued, in view of the annulments from which it suffers, but above all due to nullities, definitively removing this administrative act from the legal order”.

PAS had already contested at the beginning of April the issuance of the favourable EIS conditioned on the construction of the seawater desalination station issued by APA.

This platform is a movement created in 2020, which groups together A Rocha Portugal, Água é Vida, AlBio - Algarve Agroecological Association, Almargem - Association for the Defense of Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the Algarve, CIVIS – Association for the Deepening of Citizenship, Ecotopia Environmental and Sustainable Development Association, FALA - Forum for the Environment of the Alentejo Coast, Faro 1540 - Association for the Defense and Promotion of the Environmental and Cultural Heritage of Faro, Glocal Faro, LPN - League for the Protection of Nature, Probaal - Association for o Barrocal Algarvio, Quercus – National Association for Nature Conservation and REGAR.

Among other arguments, environmentalists once again emphasise that their position has as an “objective basis” the fact that numerous elements of the project were not presented and analysed, which they consider to be “essential information and of central importance”, concluding that “several impacts of significant value were not evaluated”.

On April 3, APA issued the EIS favourable to the seawater desalination plant project to be installed in Albufeira, in the district of Faro, although subject to compliance with a set of conditions.

According to that entity, despite considering that the impacts are not significant, “a set of requirements aimed at safeguarding these possible impacts, as well as the development of possible additional minimization measures” were incorporated into the decision.

The construction of a desalination plant in the municipality of Albufeira, whose base value is 90 million euros, is one of the response measures to the drought affecting the southern region of Portugal, with the equipment expected to have an initial water conversion capacity from the sea in the potable capacity of 16 cubic hectometres.

According to Águas do Algarve, the company responsible for supplying water in the region, which is responsible for managing infrastructure such as dams or Wastewater Treatment Plants, the work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.