Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 23rd March 2022
The Vila do Bispo City Council launches today, World Water Day, a campaign that calls for water saving in the municipality.
Using a photograph that shows the low level of water in the Bravura Dam, the municipality alerts the population to the possibility that, if the weather conditions are maintained and there are no significant savings in consumption, there will be problems in supply in the months summer.
The campaign will be present in the communication channels of the Municipality, local press and water bills, in order to reach all citizens, as well as merchants and other economic agents in the municipality.
The Bravura Dam, which supplies the western Algarve, is only 14% of its maximum level and the entire Algarve region is in extreme drought, being one of the most affected areas of the country. In February, the use of water from the dam for irrigation by farmers was prohibited and, at the meeting of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA)/Regional Subcommittee for the South Zone of the Reservoir Management Commission, held on 23 February in Lagos, one of the contingency measures approved to deal with the worsening hydrological situation in the Algarve was to establish “… the exclusive use of the Bravura reservoir for supply, temporarily suspending all other uses”.
At the municipal level, the Vila do Bispo City Council decided to suspend the procedure for new requests for water supply lines for agricultural irrigation, and work is being carried out on the monitoring and control of water losses.
Fires: Tavira expects to finish works in the centre of aerial means by December
The City Council of Tavira expects to conclude the tender for the works of the Centro de Meios Aéreo de Cachopo by June and have the intervention ready by December, keeping the runway operational during the fire season, estimated the municipality.
The intervention in the Centro de Meios Aéreos de Cachopo, located in the Algarve mountains, 40 kilometres from the coast, is budgeted at 2.5 million euros, with community funding, in order to “strengthen the response capacity of protection and rescue of airlines in the Algarve”, specified the municipality.
Speaking to Lusa, a source from the municipality said that the work, which provides for the requalification of the existing track and the construction of a support building, among other works, has not yet been awarded, and the procedure is in the tender phase until March 30, process that should be completed in the first half of 2022.
“Currently, the Cachopo Heliport only works during the period to fight forest fires, between June and September. The work has an execution period of six months and the municipality will seek to reconcile the execution of the work with the operation of the runway”, assured the same source.
After the works, the center will be ready to operate throughout the year, instead of only being active during the summer, during the period of greatest fire risk, he added.
High-speed boat found in Culatra, Algarve
On Sunday, a high-speed vessel was found stranded on the island of Culatra, in the municipality of Faro.
A high-speed vessel was detected this morning, with various material inside and without crew on board, which was stranded on the island of Culatra, in the municipality of Faro, according to the National Maritime Authority.
Following an alert received by the local Command of the Maritime Police of Olhão, at 06:30, reporting the presence of a vessel stranded on the island of Culatra, elements of the Maritime Police and the Captaincy of the Port went to check the vessel.
Upon arrival at the site, the Maritime Police found that it was a high-speed vessel, which had been abandoned with various material inside, and it was not possible to remove the vessel from the site due to the weather conditions at the time.
The Judiciary Police was contacted.
Comment
These types of vessels are increasingly used by drug traffickers and some have speeds in excess of 100 km/h.