Algarve desalination project advances as minister visits region

Construction of the Algarve’s desalination plant is progressing as planned, despite legal challenges, Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho said on Wednesday, as she inaugurated a new recycled water facility in Vilamoura.

Speaking during the opening of the Vilamoura Water Reuse Station (ApR), the minister said works on the desalination plant in Albufeira were continuing normally after a court authorised construction to proceed.

She defended the environmental assessment carried out by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), saying the process had been conducted rigorously and had strengthened the State’s position in legal proceedings surrounding the project.

Maria da Graça Carvalho also announced the creation of a monitoring committee for the desalination plant, bringing together the municipalities of Albufeira and Loulé, fishing associations, parish councils and other stakeholders.

The committee, she says, will oversee construction and the implementation of environmental mitigation measures, including monitoring the pipeline that will discharge concentrated brine back into the sea.

Earlier on Wednesday, the minister symbolically laid the foundation stone for the desalination plant, although construction has been underway since April.

The €107.9 million project has been awarded to a consortium comprising Aquapor and GS Inima, with around €56 million in funding from Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

Once operational, the plant will initially produce 16 million cubic metres of drinking water per year, with capacity expected to increase to 24 million cubic metres in a later phase.

The minister’s visit to the Algarve also marked the inauguration of the Vilamoura Water Reuse Station, another key element of the region’s strategy to diversify water sources.

The facility will supply treated wastewater for irrigating golf courses, public gardens and agricultural land, helping reduce demand for potable water in one of Portugal’s driest regions.

Maria da Graça Carvalho said contracts had already been signed for the use of the reclaimed water in non-potable applications and added that the infrastructure had been designed so it could, if required in the future, be adapted to supply water for human consumption.

She also announced a pilot project to expand the use of recycled water in agriculture, describing it as an important step towards more sustainable management of the Algarve’s increasingly pressured water resources.

The minister also inaugurated the new Water Reuse (ApR) pumping and distribution infrastructure at the Albufeira Poente Wastewater Treatment Plant, an 18-month project that will supply reclaimed water for compatible uses and help reduce pressure on the Algarve’s freshwater resources.

Source: Lusa/Ministério do Ambiente e Energia

Photos: Ministério do Ambiente e Energia

Inês Lopes

Newspaper editor at The Portugal Resident