Odemira, Beja, Portugal, Nov. 5, 2024 (Lusa) - A total of 34 public and private organisations are signing a manifesto on Tuesday in Odemira, in the district of Beja, calling for water availability to be increased in the south-west of Portugal's Alentejo and Algarve regions.

The manifesto, entitled ‘Water at the Service of the Future’, will be signed at 12 noon during the first meeting of the movement of the same name, which is taking place in a hotel at the Santa Clara Dam in the Alentejo district of Odemira.

In the document, to which the Lusa news agency has had access, the signatories point out that "Portugal is one of the southern European countries that will suffer most from the impact of climate change".

For this reason, "the availability of water is one of the biggest challenges facing the world" and "Portugal, particularly the south of the country and in particular the south-west Alentejo and Algarve regions, are no exception", they say.

For the signatories of the manifesto, "the solution to overcoming the reality that is being experienced today and that is expected for the future" in this part of the country, in terms of water availability, "exists and has been identified" and involves "a National Water Plan".

This instrument, they say, will make it possible to strengthen "the availability of water in the regions most affected by drought, bringing water from where it is abundant to where it is scarce".

To this end, they call for Alqueva to be reinforced "as a major reservoir for water supply regularisation in the south of the country" and for the Santa Clara Dam to be reinforced "as a ‘hub’ for water distribution to the south-west of Alentejo and the western Algarve".

This solution will make it possible to take advantage of this reservoir, which is "one of the largest water reservoirs in the country", and turn it into "the 'lung' of water capable of serving these two regions and guaranteeing the survival of these territories", they advocate.

The document also calls for "the Alqueva-Mira-Odelouca-Bravura interconnection", which "is already connected via a tunnel to the Funcho-Arade system, while the interconnection to [the] Bravura [Dam] in the Algarve is missing".

Finally, the manifesto argues for "the rehabilitation of the water distribution system infrastructures", which "could be operational three to four years after the decision is taken, and which have the capacity to guarantee the water resources needed for current and future consumption - in a sustainable, fair and competitive way - in south-west Alentejo and the Algarve".

"This is a solution that, in total, involves an investment of around €130 million," the document emphasises.

The signatories of the manifesto also state that it is "urgent to implement" "what has already been approved and has not yet progressed", as well as "the planned modernisation projects with approved funding".

And they call for progress "towards the total pressurisation of the irrigation perimeters, especially the Mira Irrigation Perimeter, which in 2023 recorded losses in the distribution system of around 48%, or Alvor, in the western Algarve".

This "is the time to decide", as well as "to act" and "to build the solution that can guarantee the future of these regions, their companies and their people", the document warns.

The Alentejo municipalities of Odemira and Ourique and the Algarve municipalities of Aljezur, Lagoa, Lagos, Monchique and Vila do Bispo are some of the signatories of the document, as is the Baixo Alentejo Intermunicipal Community (CIMBAL).

Lusomorango, a producer organisation in the fruit and vegetable sector, the Association of Horticulturists, Fruit Growers and Flower Growers of the Odemira and Aljezur districts (AHSA), the National Federation of Irrigators, the Hotel, Restaurant and Similar Association of Portugal and agricultural companies are also signatories to the manifesto.

Other signatories are the regional tourism organisations of Alentejo and Ribatejo and the Algarve and the mining company Somincor, concessionaire of the Neves-Corvo mine in the district of Castro Verde.

CYMP/AYLS // AYLS

Lusa