Environmental association ZERO is calling for the proposed Foupana dam in the eastern Algarve to be rejected, warning that it could threaten the survival of one of Portugal’s rarest freshwater fish and raising questions over the impartiality of organisations involved in the project.
The intervention comes on the final day of the dam’s public consultation, which has been running since August 31 as part of the environmental impact assessment process. The project, still at preliminary-study stage, would affect Alcoutim and Castro Marim and link the future reservoir to the existing Odeleite-Beliche system through a tunnel.
ZERO is asking for an unfavourable Environmental Impact Declaration, arguing that the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) contains serious shortcomings and does not demonstrate that building another dam is the best way of increasing water availability in the Algarve.
At the centre of its concerns is the Iberian minnowcarp (Anaecypris hispanica), known in Portuguese as the saramugo.
The endangered fish is endemic to the Guadiana basin and still lives in the Foupana stream, which ZERO describes as one of its last remaining Portuguese refuges. The organisation says the species has disappeared from around half of the Portuguese sub-basins where it once occurred and now survives in only five.
ZERO argues that the project’s own environmental study effectively acknowledges the gravity of the threat.
According to the association, the EIA recognises that the saramugo “will not survive the effects of the project”, while simultaneously concluding that the Natura 2000 network would not suffer a significant impact – a position ZERO says is contradictory and inadequately justified.
The environmental group had already lodged a complaint with the European Commission in September, accusing Portugal of failing to include several important watercourses where the species survives, including the Foupana, within the Natura 2000 network.
‘Alternatives not properly compared’
The planned dam would stand around 52.5 metres high, with the different options assessed providing storage capacities of roughly 99 to 124 million cubic metres. Estimated investment is between €150 million and €200 million.
ZERO says the EIA estimates the project would increase the amount of water reliably available through the Odeleite-Beliche system by an average of around 10 million cubic metres per year.
For the association, that benefit needs to be weighed against permanent environmental damage.
It argues that the study “does not adequately compare the dam with alternatives”, including reducing water losses, improving efficiency, reusing treated wastewater and other measures aimed at reducing demand.
ZERO also criticises the absence of a wider strategic environmental assessment of the Government’s Água Que Une water strategy, arguing that the cumulative impacts of projects planned across the Guadiana basin should be considered together rather than individually.
Questions over impartiality
The association has also called for clarification over what it describes as recent links between individuals connected to AdP AQUA, the Águas de Portugal company involved in implementing the Água Que Une strategy, and the irrigation association promoting the Foupana project.
“The existence of recent links between members of the board of Águas de Portugal, AQUA and the promoting association raises questions about the guarantees of independence and impartiality in the implementation of the strategy,” ZERO said.
It argues that these safeguards should be publicly clarified before any decision is made on licensing, financing or contracting the project.
The concerns appear to centre in part on Macário Correia, who has led the irrigation association promoting the Foupana dam and is also president of AdP AQUA, the public company responsible for implementing the national Água Que Une strategy.
ZERO stops short of asserting that a conflict of interest has been established, but says the circumstances warrant public explanation.
The group is therefore calling not only for the dam to receive a negative environmental decision, but also for the Foupana sub-basin to be added to Natura 2000, for the Água Que Une strategy to undergo strategic environmental assessment, and for water efficiency, reuse and loss reduction to be prioritised ahead of major new infrastructure.
ZERO’s intervention follows similar criticism from the Platform for Sustainability and Biodiversity of the Algarve and Alentejo (PPSBAA), which also came out against the Foupana dam earlier this month. As previously reported by The Resident, the platform warned that the project could cause irreversible damage to the stream, threaten protected species and encourage the expansion of water-intensive agriculture in the eastern Algarve.
PPSBAA also argued that the region should prioritise reducing water losses, improving efficiency and increasing the reuse of treated wastewater rather than relying on further large-scale infrastructure.