According to data from the most recent Water Observatory in the Algarve, dated September 30, during the month there was “a decrease in the performance of the 16 municipalities” in the region, with regard to compliance with the 10% reduction in urban consumption defined in June by the Government.

The five Algarve municipalities that reduced water consumption in September, compared to the same period in 2023, were Lagoa, Tavira, Vila Real de Santo António, Alcoutim and Castro Marim, having, however, falling “below the target of 10% reduction”, says the document.

“With regard to urban consumption accumulated between January and September [2024], there was a reduction in the region of 8.0%, which translates into a saving of around 4.7 million cubic meters, in relation to the reference period [January to September 2023]", he adds.

According to the monitoring report, during the fourth quarter of the hydrological year 2023/24, the accumulated precipitation that occurred in the region was less than 50 millimeters, with the exception of the Monchique area, where it was higher.

“In evaluating the evolution of the level of hydrological drought throughout the hydrological year 2023/24, it appears that the windward [west] and leeward [east] areas continue to be in extreme hydrological drought and the Arade basin has alleviated the level and is now in moderate hydrological drought”, continues the document.

With regard to underground water bodies, the report says that the majority of aquifer systems - Almádena-Odiáxere, Querença-Silves and Campina de Faro - continue to record “very low piezometric levels”, with “significantly low and lower levels to the 20th percentile”.

In the case of the Almádena-Odiáxere water body, in Lagos, the situation in this hydrological year “is more serious than in the 2005 drought and levels are approaching the average sea water level”, says the document.

With regard to the Querença-Silves aquifer (between Loulé and Silves), the situation is worse in the central and western areas, with the eastern area of ​​the system showing “signs of recovery”, however, the situation “is more unfavorable than in the drought of 2005 and, significantly, more severe than the drought of 2022”.

In the Algarve region, since May 2022 water storage levels in reservoirs have been below 50%, with the lack of replenishment during wet periods generating a continuous deficit in terms of the use of available surface and groundwater.

The current situation of water reserves in the Algarve region, particularly in the years 2022 and 2023, in which values ​​below the 20th percentile were recorded, determines that current water uses “cannot be adequately satisfied with the existing reserves in surface waters and underground,” says the APA.

“The precipitation that occurred during the months of March and April made it possible to increase the volumes stored in reference reservoirs in the Algarve region, allowing, between January 1st and April 30th, to increase the volume stored by another 84 cubic hectometers (hm3)”, he adds.

According to the APA, this situation “makes it possible, albeit cautiously, to reduce the level of reduction in volumes allocated to different uses and ecological flows without, however, neglecting that at the end of December 2024, the useful volume stored in the reservoirs guarantees one year of public supply”.