he Alqueva reservoir, in the Alentejo, will provide 30 million more cubic meters of water to farmers of the irrigation perimeters of the development, due to drought, revealed today the president of the managing company.
This increase in the allocation of water for irrigation, explained to the Pp the president of the Alqueva Development and Infrastructure Company (EDIA), José Pedro Salema, is due to the drought that the region is experiencing.
“We are almost at the end of May and practically since January it hasn’t rained at all. It is natural that there is a greater need for farmers to water their crops,” justified the official.
Pointing out that EDIA will already increase the maximum authorized water volumes for each of the approximately 2,000 enrolled in the current campaign, José Pedro Salema indicated that this measure was already foreseen in the Annual Water Use Plan.
“We already anticipated this mechanism. The only difference is that we are doing it in advance”, because, in the rules of the annual plan established for this campaign, “we predicted that we would do this at the end of June”, pointed out the official.
The president of EDIA said that this increase in the allocation of water for irrigation will be made with the existing availability in the dam and the distribution network of the Alqueva development, which “are about 30 million cubic meters” of water.
“In some cases, it may be 10% more, in others, a little less, but it’s a help and what we can do not to exceed our concession and it’s a sign that we are paying attention to the weather,” he stressed.
According to the responsible, EDIA will now notify, by letter and e-mail, each of the Alqueva beneficiaries about the new volume values to be supplied per registration.
In statements to Portugal Pulse, José Pedro Salema stressed that “in the areas served by Alqueva there will be no shortage of water,” pointing out that the amount stored in the dam “is perfectly sufficient for this season and the next without any restriction.
“The problem is that the areas served by Alqueva are not the whole Alentejo and the great drama of the drought are the areas that are isolated, that have no public or private irrigation and are only dependent on water that falls from the sky,” he said.
For EDIA’s president, the areas of dryland agriculture in the Alentejo region are “a cause for concern” and where “there is already a dramatic situation.
“I believe that these rains [of the last few days] will not bring significant inflows, because the soils are quite dry and this precipitation is essentially retained in the soils, contributing to pastures and to some savings [of water] in the irrigated areas,” he added.
Alqueva already irrigates 130,000 hectares and is expanding to benefit another 20,000.
