Latest news and stories about water supply in Setúbal, Portugal for expats and residents.
The consumer protection association DECO criticizes the water tariff in Almada, citing a double penalty for residents amidst a crisis that ERSAR identifies as a significant management failure.
Water reserves in the Almada municipality have reached 40%, prompting the Municipal Water and Sanitation Services to evaluate potential reductions in ongoing supply cuts that have affected areas like Costa da Caparica.
Twenty-one locations in Almada, including Charneca da Caparica and Aroeira, will face a total water supply interruption from Monday night until Tuesday morning to facilitate infrastructure improvements supported by a new borehole connection from Seixal.
The Almada municipality has announced further night-time water supply cuts affecting ten areas to restore reserves, prompting concerns from local business owners regarding potential compensation claims and warnings from regulators about temporary water quality changes.
A new water extraction borehole in Almada will begin operations this Sunday, aiming to boost the municipal supply system's capacity by approximately 20%.
The Socialist Party in Setúbal has called on the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities to address the critical water supply instability in Almada, highlighting concerns over infrastructure neglect and service failures.
Approximately 1,500 residents in Costa da Caparica, Almada, staged a protest march to demand immediate action regarding persistent water supply failures that have left households without water for days during extreme heat.
Water supply is gradually returning to six areas in Almada following a burst pipe repair, though the municipality continues to face systemic shortages due to record-high consumption levels.
Three months after the crisis that left taps dry in July, the SMAS president says the dispute with Seixal over the CBR2 borehole is close to being resolved.
The water supply crisis in Almada served as a serious regional warning, the president of SMAS warns in an interview. For Luís Palma, the scenario opened a window of opportunity to strengthen resilience and resolve long-standing disputes with the neighboring municipality of Seixal. In early July, the Almada municipality, in the Setúbal district, experienced...
Promoting water reuse in the Setúbal Peninsula is proposed as a priority measure to serve as a starting point for strengthening the water supply.
A repair intervention following the identification of a water supply pipe burst in Costa da Caparica will force a temporary interruption of the supply this Thursday, October 1st, starting at 2:00 PM, the Almada Municipal Water and Sanitation Services (SMAS) announced on Wednesday. The SMAS of Almada stated they will make every effort to minimize the impact and restore supply as quickly as possible, according to a note on the Almada City Council website. The municipality of Almada, in the Setúbal district, was in a state of alert from early July until the end of August due to successive water supply failures, particularly in Costa da Caparica, which led to several protests by the population. On September 9th, the Minister of Environment announced that the Government aims to have a solution for the water shortage on the South Bank within four months, drawing from the Castelo de Bode Dam and/or the Tagus River. Maria da Graça Carvalho stated that the technical solution will complement the use of groundwater and added that the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the Águas de Portugal (ÁdP) group have been tasked with presenting a project within 120 days. In response, Mayor Inês de Medeiros noted that the commitments made by the minister offer hope that this solution can be operational as soon as possible, emphasizing that it is intended to strengthen the system's security and resilience.
PSD, Chega, and Livre wanted to hear from the Mayor of Almada and SMAS officials regarding water supply failures. A PS deputy requested the intervention of Aguiar Branco, who wants to hear from the 1st Committee.
Almada City Council will sign an agreement with Seixal to address a water supply problem that severely affected residents in June and July. The agreement between the two municipalities in the Setúbal district is expected to be signed in early October, announced Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho. According to the minister, the borehole, known as CBR2, is located in the Seixal municipality, as are most of the boreholes supplying Almada, which had been on alert from early July until the end of August due to successive water supply failures, particularly in Costa da Caparica. The minister noted that water is a public good that transcends administrative boundaries. In addition to this immediate solution, other long-term strategies are being studied, including a surface distribution connection between Lisbon and Almada via pipelines near the 25 de Abril Bridge, and a project involving the Castelo de Bode Dam.
The municipalities of Almada and Seixal are set to sign an agreement for the licensing of a water extraction borehole, aiming to resolve the Almada municipality's supply problem in the short term. The announcement was made this Wednesday by the Minister of Environment, Maria da Graça Carvalho. The agreement between the two municipalities...
Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho announced an agreement between Almada and Seixal to license the CBR2 borehole and two additional solutions, including a connection to Lisbon and Castelo de Bode.
The municipalities of Almada and Seixal are set to sign an agreement for the licensing of a water borehole, aiming for a short-term resolution to the water supply issue in the Almada municipality.
The agreement between the two municipalities in the Setúbal district is expected to be signed at the beginning of October.
Inês de Medeiros says everything depends on the speed of the work execution. The mayor of Almada reveals that the municipality has found a “surprising” number of diversions and has therefore increased oversight.
The mayor, Inês de Medeiros, says that the implementation of the agreement depends on the speed of the work. Also, Russia's air defences shot down more than 500 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The agreement comes months after supply failures that affected the Costa da Caparica. EPAL will fund a study to diversify water sources in the municipality.
The municipality of Almada and EPAL will sign an agreement on Wednesday, September 23, to study a solution to improve the resilience and security of the local water supply system. Currently, Almada relies exclusively on groundwater from the Setúbal Peninsula aquifer. The agreement aims to diversify water sources by introducing surface water, addressing the pressure on underground reserves and climate change challenges. EPAL will develop a structural supply study at its own expense, with the goal of ensuring system redundancy. This follows a summer of water supply failures in the region, particularly in Costa da Caparica, which led to public protests and government intervention to find a long-term solution.
The municipality and EPAL will study a solution using surface water to reinforce the system
Almada was in a state of alert from the beginning of July until the end of August due to successive failures in the water supply.
Frederico Rosa, mayor of Barreiro, considers it important to “create the necessary redundancies in high-level intake,” distribution, and storage for a resilient regional system.
The hypothesis put forward by the Minister of Environment is seen by Quercus as the only “efficient” one, and Almada City Council views it favourably. The Zero Association would prefer direct extraction from the Tagus River.
The government aims to have a solution for the water shortage on the south bank of the Tagus within four months, focusing on the Castelo de Bode dam and the Tagus River. Quercus states that the proposal is the most efficient one.
The Zero Association has serious reservations about the government's solution to reinforce the water supply to the South Bank of the Tagus, including Almada, by using the Castelo de Bode Dam.
Tariff brackets for non-domestic users and a special regime for entities of local public interest have been introduced.
The Almada municipality, which has experienced a water supply crisis in recent months, states it has been working with EPAL (Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres) for nearly a month to draft a potential contract with the company.
