According to Teresa Fernandes, it takes 72 million cubic metres to supply the Algarve region with water for a year and this is what is currently in the Odeleite, Beliche and Odelouca dams, the latter serving only for human supply.

However, it is necessary to take into account the water used by agriculture, which also uses two of the three Algarve dams.

A spokeswoman for the company responsible for managing the municipal water supply system in the 16 municipalities in the region indicated that there are no “critical zones” for population supplies, as the Loulé reversible lifting station allows for “windward water transfer to leeward and vice versa.”

Regarding the areas with “lack of water”, as is the case of the municipality of Castro Marim, where the municipality is taking water to about 30 autotank towns, Teresa Fernandes said that these are areas still not connected to the network, since the company supplies the municipalities and they, in turn, “supply the populations”.

Águas do Algarve manages the water in the dams, but also the Querença - Silves (groundwater) aquifer, the main one in the region, which has already been “resorted” to integrated management of all sources, so that “none of its origins is exhausted,” she said.

The entry into the so-called rainy season, with a new hydrological cycle, brings the expectation of a reinforcement of the waters in the dams, although there is still no need for “rationing”.

However, she warned, people need to be made aware of the need to save water and, above all, to "combat waste".

The company responsible for water supply in the Algarve will maintain a monitoring of the aquifer and dam levels, establishing a “direct and daily connection” with Águas de Portugal.

It will also keep a campaign launched in the summer active to contribute to the collective awareness of a situation that, “not being alarming,” should be viewed as some attention, he concluded.