Speaking to journalists at Praia de São Pedro do Estoril, in the municipality of Cascais, district of Lisbon, Maria da Graça Carvalho pointed out that, as of today of the 642 beaches in the country, only two coastal and three river beaches are advised against.

“These are isolated cases that are immediately detected and resolved within 24 hours”, the minister pointed out, pointing out “various origins”.

In the recent case recorded in the municipality of Cascais, at Praia das Moitas, the situation “must have been caused” – still without “absolute certainty” – by “an abnormal quantity” of “strange algae”, she pointed out.

In the case of the Algarve, where the beaches of Quarteira and Vilamoura were closed a few days ago, this was due to “a fault in a pumping station”, she said.

“It was a very quick thing and after 24 hours swimming was recommended again”, recalled the minister, highlighting the “great effort” of monitoring by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).

“We know that it is not recommended because someone is measuring […]. There are a lot of people working to ensure that people can go to the beach safely and with full public health protection”, she stressed, admitting that there are improvements to be made, namely in online monitoring, so as not to delay the time between the ban and the analyses.

The minister stressed that “Portugal is one of the countries with the best water”, the second in river beaches and the sixth in coastal beaches, acknowledging that it is necessary to invest in sand injection and water quality monitoring.

Maria da Graça Carvalho recalled that the last “major intervention” in the basic sanitation system took place 30 years ago and, therefore, “there is a lot of equipment that needs to be improved”.

However, “unfortunately, in the RRP [Recovery and Resilience Plan, European funds] this was not taken into account”, she lamented.

“We have little European funding […], both for water and for basic sanitation and also, by the way, for waste. These are three areas in which Portugal needs a lot of investment”, noted the minister, adding that the Government is “trying to find a solution”.

The modernization of the sanitation system, namely the renovation of the Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP), could involve “more innovative financing”, for example by using the European Investment Bank.