Faro, Portugal, Oct. 2, 2024 (Lusa) - The Algarve's future desalination plant should be built in late 2026 or early 2027, after the work was awarded to a Portuguese-Spanish consortium of companies, Águas do Algarve announced on Wednesday.
"Águas do Algarve has awarded the public tender for the design, construction and operation of the Desalination System in the Algarve Region, with the Complementary Grouping of Companies - ACE," reads a statement from the public company.
According to a source from Águas do Algarve, the company responsible for water supply in the region, which is in charge of managing infrastructures such as dams and Wastewater Treatment Plants (ETAR), the work is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027.
The so-called Complementary Grouping of Companies (ACE) is made up of the Portuguese companies Luságua - Serviços Ambientais, Aquapor - Serviços and the Spanish company GS Inima Environment.
According to the press release, the award contract represents an investment of around €108 million and is part of the Algarve's Regional Water Efficiency Plan, which is framed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
The commitment foresees that this consortium will fulfil the defined objectives, namely "the design, construction and operation of the desalination system in the Algarve region", which will be installed in Albufeira, in the district of Faro.
Once the work has been completed, the consortium will also be responsible for "operating the project for a period of three years".
Águas do Algarve says that the construction of the desalination plant comes in a context in which it is expected, "with growing evidence, that there will be a decrease in annual rainfall and an increase in the asymmetry of the intra-annual rainfall regime, more or less pronounced depending on the climate scenarios considered, especially pronounced in the Mediterranean regions".
According to the press release, the project's sole objective is to develop an integrated solution that sustainably ensures public water supply in the Algarve region, a need that has long been identified.
The main reason for realising this project is, according to Águas do Algarve, the need to create an alternative capable of guaranteeing that the public supply to the region's population is resilient, even during periods of prolonged drought.
The construction of a desalination plant in the municipality of Albufeira is one measure to respond to the drought affecting the southern region of Portugal.
The infrastructure will have an initial capacity of 16 million cubic metres (m3). However, the company is designing it to treat up to three times that volume, or up to 24 million m3 of water.
Over the last few years, the Algarve region has suffered cycles of prolonged drought associated with a situation of water scarcity that is already considered structural. This has resulted in a decrease in the volumes of water stored in the various available sources.
Last July, a platform that brings together environmental associations launched a legal action against the Public Prosecutor's Office, asking for the invalidation of the Environmental Impact Statement in favour of building a desalination plant in the Algarve.
FPB/ADB // ADB.
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