The amount of water stored in the Barlavento river basin rose to 20.8% on March 31, double the figure for February, but it remains the basin that retains the least water in Portugal.
According to data from the National Water Resources Information System (SNIRH) available today, in March there was an increase in the volume stored in nine river basins and a decrease in three.
Despite the increase last month, the amount of water retained in the windward basin was far from the average, which is 74.1%. In February this basin was at 12.5% of its capacity and in January it had been at 9.4%.
At the end of February, the entire Algarve region was in a situation of meteorological drought.
Storage in March 2024 by river basin is higher than the average storage for the same month (reference period 1990/91 to 2022/23), with the exception of the Ave (69.9%), Mira (40.3%), Ribeiras do Algarve (Barlavento 20.8%) and Arade (40.9%) basins.
On the last day of March, the Tagus, Cávado and Guadiana basins had the most water, with 95.4%, 93.8% and 91.4%, respectively.
According to the SNIRH, of the 60 reservoirs monitored, 38 had water availability of more than 80% of their total volume at the end of March and four had availability of less than 40%.
Each river basin can have more than one reservoir.
