The president of the Association of Beneficiaries of the Sotavento do Algarve Irrigation Plan (ABPRSA), Macário Correia, explained to Lusa that the structure, on the Alportel River, which rises in Barranco do Velho (Loulé) and flows into Tavira, in the district of Faro, will have multiple purposes: “agriculture, urban consumption and combating floods”.

In a statement, the association said it had signed “a few weeks ago” with the Portuguese Environment Agency a protocol, with the support of the Environmental Fund, to “retake the flood control solution”, but also integrate, “in the current context of scarcity water, the use of water to reinforce the Odeleite-Beliche system, for irrigation and public supply”.

“The work not only protects the city of Tavira from floods, guaranteeing the ecological flow from Soalheira do Pereiro to S. Domingos (tidal waters), but also allows the use of water for human consumption and “some reinforcement of the irrigation system, without an increase in areas, but to stabilise reserves in times of drought”, says the associative structure.

Macário Correia explained that “the dam is close to the Santo Estêvão reservoir [a parish in the municipality of Tavira], which is the central reservoir that serves for Águas do Algarve” and is used “for human consumption”, but “it also serves for the irrigators association”.

“The water that is used from this river will prevent it from reaching Tavira and causing devastation to the city. And by placing it there, it will serve, depending on need, for urban consumption or for agriculture”, added the president of ABPRSA, who foresees “a storage of around 10 cubic hectometers in an average year in a scenario of reduction of precipitation”.

The association stressed that “with the competition now launched”, it is estimated that the “project and environmental impact study will be updated during the second half of 2025”, and then, “depending on the conditions studied”, the execution project will be carried out.

In the note, ABPRSA recalled that “in the 1930s, work began on what would be the first dam in the Algarve after Roman times”, next to “the Alportel riverbed, seven kilometers from Tavira”, but the “difficulties in a cofferdam and the economic crisis generated by the Spanish Civil War interrupted work”.

“At the beginning of this century, due to the floods of 1989 and 2000, the Tavira Chamber and INAG (Water Institute) promoted a preliminary study of the dam and environmental impact published in 2009”, highlighted the association.

The association recalled that the “devastation” caused by floods, in 1969 and 1989, in downtown Tavira, caused damage to the Roman bridge and considered as expected that the “rise in sea levels in the context of ongoing climate change ” could facilitate the “conditions that worsen the risk” of flooding.

Therefore, last June, the Resolution of the Council of Ministers for the effects of the drought “addressed this work” with the “multiple” objectives of “storing water, creating an ecological flow and defending the city”, an objective that, together with the hydro-agricultural development, led the association to approve the bid.