The Portuguese Government announced steps on Wednesday to tackle significant drought conditions in Algarve, a popular tourist region in the south of the country, by limiting water use.
“There will be no water for public supplies if no measures are taken,” Environment Minister Duarte Cordeiro warned after a meeting on Wednesday of the country's drought management committee.
The measures entail a 25% cut in water used for agriculture and a 15% cut for urban users.
Describing the drought situation as “asymmetric," Cordeiro explained that it “is concentrated mainly in the south.”
According to the latest data from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere, IPMA, over 19% of Portugal’s territory was affected by drought at the end of November.
The meteorological drought area increased in December in the south, particularly in Algarve, which has been in the grip of intense drought for the past several months.
“Algarve is currently experiencing its worst drought,” the Deputy Director of the Environmental Agency, José Carlos Pimenta Machado, said last week.
He described unprecedented low water levels in reservoirs and underground water tables as a “consequence of ten straight years of continuous drought.”
