An Algarve and Alentejo environmental platform has come out strongly against plans for the Foupana dam, warning that the project could cause lasting damage to biodiversity and encourage the expansion of water-intensive agriculture in an increasingly drought-prone region.
The Platform for Sustainability and Biodiversity of the Algarve and Alentejo (PPSBAA) is urging residents to take part in the project’s public consultation, which remains open until October 16. The proposed dam is at preliminary-study stage and would affect areas of Alcoutim and Castro Marim, with a tunnel linking it to the existing Odeleite-Beliche system.
The project is being promoted by the Association of Beneficiaries of the Sotavento Algarve Irrigation Plan, now known as the Association of Irrigators of the Sotavento do Algarve.
According to the environmental impact study, its principal purpose is to increase water availability in the Algarve by reinforcing the Odeleite-Beliche system, supporting both present and future demand, including agriculture, while also improving the resilience of the region’s public water supply.
The PPSBAA, however, argues that the dam would help expand a model of intensive irrigated agriculture across the eastern Algarve which it considers incompatible with the region’s long-term water constraints.
“It is indispensable to rethink and adapt the agricultural model, in a region suffering from accelerated desertification and increased periods of drought, by focusing on crops which are adapted to the Mediterranean climate and require low water consumption,” the platform says.
The EIA itself describes the project area as having an arid climate and projects average temperatures could rise by between 2°C and 4°C, while annual rainfall could fall by between 8% and 26%.
Concern for Foupana river
The platform’s strongest objections concern the impact on the Ribeira da Foupana, which it describes as one of the most ecologically valuable watercourses in the north-eastern Algarve.
PPSBAA says around 18 kilometres of riverine habitat could be submerged, with potential consequences for fish, including the Iberian minnowcarp, European eel and other protected species, as well as the wider ecological role of the river.
It adds that the environmental study confirms that the project would alter the Foupana’s natural flow regime and cause habitat loss and fragmentation, identifying biodiversity and surface water among the areas most affected during both construction and operation.
Surveys carried out for the EIA identified 207 plant species, subspecies and varieties, including 14 considered rare, endemic, threatened or protected, as well as 145 animal species. Of the latter, 21 were classified as threatened and 40 protected under EU nature directives. According to the platform, the study also identifies the Guadiana Special Area of Conservation, Iberian lynx territory and the Foupana itself as ecologically sensitive areas.
Among the species highlighted by PPSBAA as potentially affected are the Iberian lynx, wildcat, otter, golden eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, Spanish imperial eagle, cinereous vulture and eagle owl.
The platform concludes that construction and operation would generate significant negative impacts, particularly on biodiversity, water resources, soils and landscape. However, it also identifies positive socioeconomic and water-supply effects and concludes that the dam is viable provided mitigation, compensation and monitoring measures are fully implemented.
Of the alternatives assessed, it recommends Axis 3, which would create a reservoir covering around 491 hectares with a total capacity of approximately 99 million cubic metres. The study considers this the environmentally preferable option because it would flood less land and affect fewer habitats than the alternative location.
‘Manage water, not waste it’
PPSBAA argues that the Algarve’s water shortage should instead be tackled through lower consumption, reduced losses in urban and agricultural networks and greater reuse of treated wastewater for farming and golf.
It says agriculture accounts for around 57% of water consumption in the Algarve and argues that simply increasing storage risks encouraging greater demand rather than changing how water is used.
The organisation also criticises the broader development model behind the project, claiming the spread of intensive agriculture can bring social as well as environmental problems, including dependence on low-paid migrant labour.
It has additionally raised questions over Macário Correia’s roles in the project.
Correia is associated with the irrigation organisation promoting the dam and is also president of AdP Aqua, the public company tasked with implementing and managing the national Água que Une water strategy. PPSBAA describes this as a “clear conflict of interest”.
The group is now calling on residents to submit their views before the consultation closes on Thursday.