Faro, Portugal, June 30, 2024 (Lusa) - More than 60 tourist resorts in the Algarve region that have signed up to the "Save Water" water efficiency label reduced their overall water consumption by 12% between January and May, they announced on Saturday.
"The evolution recorded indicates a reduction in consumption of 12% in overall consumption and 9% in specific consumption. The water savings achieved contribute to mitigating the problem of water scarcity in the Algarve and will represent a direct financial saving for tourist resorts," says the project's first monitoring report, released by ADENE - Agência para a Energia.
The data reported by 62 of the participating resorts shows that total water consumption in the period from January to May 2024 was 311,860 cubic metres (m3), 12% less than in the same period last year (354,937 m3).
Specific consumption, with data reported by 59 resorts, fell by 9%, from 0.40 m3 per overnight stay between January and May 2023 to 0.35m3 per overnight stay in the same period this year.
According to ADENE, between 18 March and 31 May, 85 tourist resorts joined the "Commitment to Water Efficiency" platform, mostly hotels, out of a total of 650 registered in the region (13%), and more than 2,000 measures are being implemented, half of which are "structural".
Around 60% of the adherents are concentrated in four municipalities (Albufeira, Loulé, Portimão and Lagos), most are equipped with swimming pools and irrigation and 60% of the adherents have a spa, while less than 10% have a golf course.
The report considers the improvement in information on consumption in the Algarve's tourism sector to be "positive", "making it possible to formulate policies that are more adjusted and targeted at the different sectors", and recommends "intensifying the publicity effort, with a view to increasing" voluntary adherence to the initiative.
"Based on the financial data from the invoices, it would be interesting to assess the feasibility of calculating the financial savings achieved by the tourist resorts, in a first phase by sampling and in a second phase in an exhaustive manner," the report also suggests.
The awarding of the "Save Water" label is the result of holiday resorts voluntarily adhering to the "Commitment to Water Efficiency", involving the adoption of a water efficiency action plan that includes the phased implementation of at least 30 of the 60 water efficiency measures listed and the recording on an online platform of progress in their implementation and the water consumption recorded in 2023 and 2024.
Tourist resorts in the Algarve have a specific support line of €10 million at their disposal to support the implementation of these measures.
The water efficiency label applicable to hotels and other tourist resorts, a measure coordinated by the Algarve Tourism Board (RTA), in conjunction with Turismo de Portugal and ADENE, the agency responsible for various initiatives in the field of water efficiency, was the result of a February resolution by the previous government, which recognised the drought alert situation in the Algarve.
A new resolution by the current government, published in the Diário da República on 21 June, revoked the previous one and, while maintaining the alert situation, extended the scope of the seal to other activities: local accommodation, restaurants, tourist entertainment companies and rent-a-car.
The restrictions imposed on water consumption in the Algarve went from 25% to 13% in agriculture, from 15% to 13% in the tourism sector and from 15% to 10% in the urban sector.
EYP/ADB // ADB.
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