Algarve Reinvents Reservoirs and Desalination to End Surprise Water Cuts
It took only a few minutes for local officials to cut the blue ribbon in Lagoa, yet those scissors marked a radical shift in how the Algarve intends to tame an increasingly capricious climate. The rebuilt Sesmarias reservoir now holds enough water to keep taps running for more than a day even if the main pipes fail—a comfort residents of Praia do Carvoeiro, Sesmarias and Mato Serrão have not enjoyed for years. Behind the celebratory speeches lies a web of European funds, national subsidies, smart‐sensor technology and a determination to avoid the humiliating twelve-hour outages that used to empty household tanks without warning.
A quiet revolution inside Lagoa’s concrete shells
Two ageing cells that once stored a modest 600 m³ have been replaced by twin giants of 3 340 m³ each, lifting total capacity to 6 680 m³. Inside the thick concrete walls hum electromagnetic flow meters, ultrasonic level gauges, pressure transmitters, a backup generator set and LED floodlights that cut energy use. Engineers added sodium-hypochlorite dispensers and a live chlorine/pH monitoring line so water quality no longer depends on manual checks. Mayor Luís Encarnação calls the complex a “fundamental asset”, noting that even if a main bursts, the new storage buffer, the looped pipework and the automated valves will keep showers, cafés and hotels supplied until crews arrive.
From scorching taps to strategic resilience
The upgrade is only the most visible piece of a broader reaction to the back-to-back droughts of 2024-25, which pushed some Algarve albufeiras below 25 % of capacity and sent groundwater to record lows. Data from APA show that sections of the Querença-Silves aquifer fell beneath the 20th percentile, triggering salt-water intrusion alarms on the coast. A rainy 2025 winter refilled surface reservoirs to 72 %, but officials insist the reprieve could evaporate in a single dry season. Hence the urgency: beyond Lagoa, Águas do Algarve has mapped €74 M in works—new intermediate reservoirs, 22 km of trunk mains, digital command rooms and the rehabilitation of strategic boreholes—all designed to add redundancy long before the next heatwave.
Follow the money: 100 % backing for water projects
Financing rules changed quietly yet decisively last autumn. Under the Algarve 2030 Programme, Brussels supplies the FEDER share, while Lisbon’s Environmental Fund now covers the entire national match, lifting public grants to 100 % for city-led water schemes. The tweak corrected what local councils called “an impossible 40 % gap” and promptly unlocked tenders worth more than €59 M. By April the regional authority had already committed 16.37 % of its multi-year envelope, but it must execute at least €100 M by November to avoid losing cash under the EU’s N+2 rule. To speed things up the management team is pre-financing invoices and raising co-financing rates on selected operations, a manoeuvre that has fast-tracked Lagoa and twelve other municipal upgrades.
Giving wastewater a second life—mostly for golf
Part of the strategy rests on squeezing extra litres from what was once thrown away. At the Vilamoura wastewater plant, a €12 M retrofit will soon convert effluent into 16 000 m³ of irrigation water per day, enough to green five championship courses and neighbouring parks. Parallel pipelines to Quinta do Lago and the Boavista works push the regional ApR (Água para Reutilização) target from 1.4 M m³ to 8 M m³ a year, with 71 % earmarked for fairways but a growing slice for orchards, street cleaning and public gardens. Officials argue that every recycled cubic metre keeps the equivalent volume in reservoirs for human consumption—a trade-off that golfers, farmers and environmentalists have grudgingly accepted after the 2024 water-use cuts of 25 % for agriculture and 15 % for towns.
The sea steps in: Albufeira’s desalination gamble
Just north of Albufeira’s sandy coves, contractors are clearing ground for Portugal’s first mainland seawater desalination plant. The facility, budgeted at €108 M, will open with a capacity of 16 M m³ a year and room to scale to 24 M m³. A consortium led by Lusoágua, Aquapor and GS Inima beat rivals to the design-build-operate contract after the project cleared an environmental review in October. While critics fear energy costs, the promoters reply that solar farms and progressively cheaper membranes will keep the kilowatt-hour footprint below older Mediterranean plants. When operational in 2026, the station will inject treated water directly into the high-level network, adding yet another buffer before summer crowds double the Algarve’s population.
The clock is ticking toward November milestones
Regional planners say that by the end of 2025, citizens should notice quieter headlines about burst mains and trucked-in water. Still, success hinges on meeting a string of EU disbursement deadlines, finishing the Loulé supply upgrade and closing tenders for the Barlavento–Sotavento interconnection. The CCDR Algarve will reassess drought restrictions every two months; for now a modest 5 % conservation target remains. Local authorities are also drafting a 2025-27 budget that pairs water ambitions with carbon-neutral power for pumping stations, betting that lower energy bills will fund further leak repairs. Whether the rains cooperate or not, the overarching message is clear: in the Algarve’s next dry spell, residents should see taps stay on—and wonder less about where the water came from.