Movements Together for the Southwest (JPS) and SOS Rio Mira, in Odemira (Beja), called for “unity for the defense of the territory” in the face of “water shortages in the Santa Clara reservoir”, aggravated by the “water crisis”.
In a joint statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the two organizations refer that the territory is witnessing “a struggle” for this resource, at a time when “the south of Portugal is going through a distressing water crisis” and the water in the Santa Clara dam is “at its lowest level ever”.
And they add that “it is in this context of scarcity” that the “intention of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAA), through the General Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development (DGADR), to exonerate the governing body of the Association of Beneficiaries of Mira (ABM), that manages the water of Santa Clara”.
“Faced with this situation of rupture between the forces of southwest Portugal, in the struggle for water whose scarcity has become unequivocal for a decade, demonstrates the irresponsibility with which this resource has been managed in recent years” and “the (of the)Territorial Planning, in which the galloping advance of agroindustry was allowed or ignored”, underline.
The two movements also consider it “caricature” that “the concern” of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food lies “in protecting the interests of a half dozen powerful agricultural entrepreneurs”, instead of “ensuring sustainable management of the little water available” in the Santa Clara reservoir.
That is why, call for “unity for the defense of the territory and all those who inhabit and depend on it” and ask the Government “to govern and the State to administer, not specific case, the region of Odemira, having as a premise the common good and not the maintenance of privileges that some sectors incomprehensibly enjoy”, as “the red fruit lobby”.
JPS and SOS Rio Mira also ask the Government for a careful analysis of “what makes sense to be cultivated and watered in the PRM [Mira Irrigation Perimeter]” and “to what extent and with what practices”.
"In truth, pressure was already being felt in Lisbon on the water resources of the Southwest Alentejo (...), but there must be awareness that if the intention of the MAA and the DGADR advances, will accentuate the social and environmental malaise that has long been felt in the region, as well as the even faster depletion of water resources”, le was not communicated.
No document, the JPS also announces a meeting, what happened this week, with the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, on “some aspects related to water and nature conservation”.
at the meeting, according to the movement, the government official indicated that there are “strict conditions for the rigorous and exceptional use of this resource up to the quota 104 of the Santa Clara dam, below which only public supply will be guaranteed” and that “the possibility of installing a desalination plant in the municipality of Odemira is under analysis”, through private funding.
Served by the Santa Clara Dam, in Odemira, the Mira hydro-agricultural development covers an area of 12.000 hectares in this municipality and in Aljezur, no district Faro.
The Santa Clara Reservoir, that has the capacity to store 485.000.000 m3, account only 36% of its maximum volume, equivalent to 174.665.120 m3.
News: Lidador News/Lusa
