just read this in the algarve observer web site...

wednesday, July 27, 2005





Algarve municipalities go up to third of four levels of prevention
7/22/2005 12:33:00 AM
The worsening of the drought situation, which currently affects the whole country, has obliged the municipalities of the Algarve to put themselves on the third of the four levels of intervention which are defined in the programme for monitoring and mitigation of the effects of the drought.

The fortnightly report monitoring the drought, which has just been published, says that level 3 measures (which impose restrictions on some uses of water) are in force in the municipalities of the Barlavento and Sotavento.

In the case of municipalities in the Barlavento which are served by the network of the company Águas do Algarve, measures for reducing consumption have been defined, accompanied by alternative solutions for water supplies, with the aim of reducing estimated consumption by 25%.

The drop in the Querença-Silves aquifer required urgent preventative measures to be taken to reduce by half the amount of water being drawn off at Vale da Vila which supplies the municipalities of Loulé, Albufeira, Silves, Lagoa, Lagos, Portimão and Vila do Bispo.

The municipalities in the Sotavento, served by the Odeleite and Beliche reservoirs, will also have to adopt restriction measures which will be applied from 15th July to reduce supply by 30% and 20% respectively, according to the report.

In the network which supplies the Sotavento, a concerted action programme was put in place by a number of bodies to make up for the reduced drawing of water from these reservoirs by using water from aquifers, in order to keep water for 2006.

Compared with 30th June, during the first fortnight of this month there was a worsening in the area of the country in a situation of extreme drought.

Extreme drought now affects 80% of the country, with the remaining 20% being considered to be in a situation of severe drought.

The document stresses that, in the reservoirs, the effects of them being used more intensively is beginning to be noticed with most of the hydrological basins having reserves below average.

In 22 municipalities, measures for restricting consumption have already been implemented, through reductions in the periods of supply which affect 26,345 people: Aguiar da Beira, Alcácer do Sal, Almeida, Armamar, Baião, Castro Marim, Celorico da Beira, Fafe, Gavião, Idanha- a-Nova, Loulé, Lourinhã, Manteigas, Mértola, Mirandela, Odemira, Oliveira de Frades, Sabrosa, Santa Marta de Penaguião, Serpa, Tarouca and Vale de Cambra.
In 52 municipalities, tankers have been used to fill up tanks, a situation that affects 26,000 inhabitants

save all the water you can...no doubt our gollfing friends will do their part by saving their shower and washing up water and pouring the contents on their nearby greens

Could have seen that comment coming.....just no end to golf courses being the poster child for all the enviro/water ills of the world.

Feauture on this mornings " today prog R4 ) about conflict in Murcia region
between needs of farmers and Tourism/residential sectors ( incl golf ).
Watre supplies in that semi desert area are down to 17 % as and already reported farmers have resorted to using sewage to water plants.

A spokesman for the " tourist " sector suggested that the problems were
increased by the increase in non " traditional agriculture ".

I am a keen golfer but I do not need another 40 courses in this area or more in the algarve as i will never play them.

But equally do i need, spanish strawberries/tomatoes etc grown out of season to satisfy tthe markets in UK etc.

My contacts in the channel island tell me that their traditional glasshouse industry is now virtually dead as a result of the imports from spain and other areas.

It could be that national governments are forced to support their local agriculture to the detriment of tourism and development.

WHAT THEN ???

If the golfers do not want people to have another dig, then why am I driving past golf courses seeing them STILL being watered??? (This was Tuesday). Maybe the golfers could request that they stop watering the golf courses.

amen

"tomatoes etc grown out of season to satisfy tthe markets in UK"

So you don't want tinned toms/ baked beans/ ketchup! Toms are not a seasonal product. Spain are under pressure from Morocco now. Surely the Channel Islands could have grown something else rather than just giving up? For instance, just round the corner from me at Tangmere are 50 acres of peppers.

According to a report from Spain, broadcast on the BBC TV Breakfast programme this morning, a Golf Course - annually - uses as much water as a Town of 15,000 inhabitants.

Quite a thought!

pm wrote:"tomatoes etc grown out of season to satisfy tthe markets in UK"

So you don't want tinned toms/ baked beans/ ketchup! Toms are not a seasonal product. Spain are under pressure from Morocco now. Surely the Channel Islands could have grown something else rather than just giving up? For instance, just round the corner from me at Tangmere are 50 acres of peppers.

Yes, but there's a difference between making a living using water and wasting it.

There are also sprinklers a-plenty at Rocha Brava (maybe other places too but I have only been to RB) constantly and the Portuguese also seem very ignorant to the fact that they have no water - watering just about everything is sight. Whilst we are trying to conserve every drop!

MikeS wrote:According to a report from Spain, broadcast on the BBC TV Breakfast programme this morning, a Golf Course - annually - uses as much water as a Town of 15,000 inhabitants.

Quite a thought!

..
Hub watched this early today Mikeand told me about it....quite frightening isn't it?....
he said an ecologist on there was angry saying the farmers were going under cos of severe drought..yet water was being used willynilly for golf courses & pools..
will that part of Spain just end up with green oasis of golf courses(or just one huge golf course?) whilst the farming dying and the countrside becomes desert..already is by the look of things ...........ellie

This is like a broken record

Bla..bla...bla...Golf courses .....water....bla...bla...bla... Maybe if you spent more time thinking about, and doing something for, the people from Niger it would be more beneficial

yes bla bla about water and golf...if we keep this in people view about the disgusting waste of water used by golf courses then perhaps we may prevent this turning place into niger

It is possible to be concerned about more than one problem at a time you know, even if they are different magnitudes.

exactly pm and as other guest has said if we wise up we could prevent this happening in Iberia but not if they continue to build golf courses and never ending villas with pools which then become priority for water supplies.

Its easy to miss the point which is the algarve and southern spain have NEVER had plentifull water rescources, if so why is every river dammed to the limit.
The current drought only magnifies the problems and what is seen in southern europe is the spread of the desertification that is so tragically affecting Niger, Bukina Faso, Mauritania and so on.

What the authorities have to decide in Portugal and Spain is how to manage this limited rescource and apply simple economic arguements.

Agriculture or tourism and residential developments ( incl golf ).

Eventually one will have to go if not and water remains scarce and restrictions continue or increase then development and tourism will decline.
How will this affect the portuguese economy and its already high unemployment.