Lisbon, July 10 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister for the environment and energy said on Wednesday that the construction of a desalination plant in the Algarve to be a last resort but stressed the need to prepare for the future in the face of the region's ongoing water shortage.
"The fact is that, in this situation, we have to take care of the future and equipment like this takes a long time to build and it's from this perspective that we're continuing with the project, which goes back a long way, of the desalination plant in the Algarve," said Maria da Graça Carvalho, who is being heard by the parliamentary Environment and Energy Committee.
In her response to the MPs, she said that this type of equipment should be the "last solution", listing the priorities in this regard: saving water, having fewer losses, reusing water, making good use of existing infrastructures and increasing existing capacity.
"And only if all that isn't enough should we go for a type of desalination plant, for various reasons," stressed Maria da Graça Carvalho, pointing out the environmental impacts inherent in this equipment, as well as its high cost, which "someone has to pay for".
Even with water savings of between 10% and 20% in recent months, the Algarve is "in a permanent water shortage", the minister said, adding that Spain has around 700 of these plants, but "not all of them work well", while Malta has solved its water shortage problem with this solution.
The construction of a desalination plant in the municipality of Albufeira, whose base value is €90 million, is one of the measures to respond to the drought affecting the southern region of Portugal, and the equipment is expected to have an initial capacity to convert seawater into drinking water of 16 cubic hectometres.
According to Águas do Algarve, the company responsible for water supply in the region, which manages infrastructures such as dams and wastewater treatment plants, the work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.
Recently, a platform that brings together environmentalist associations filed a lawsuit with the Public Prosecutor's Office, asking for the invalidation of the Environmental Impact Statement in favour of the construction of a desalination plant in the Algarve.
PC/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
