The Portuguese will have to get used to living with less water, the Minister of the Environment, the Government “has no type of limitation in the application, which also allows for warning of consumption”. Duarte Cordeiro defended this week that water management requires a permanent “clear policy” agenda and a warning that the drought in Portugal is structural, with reserves guaranteeing at least two years for public supply.

In an interview with Agência Lusa, at a time when the country is experiencing one of the worst droughts ever, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, highlights that the most important thing is water for people’s consumption, and that there will be a shortage of water. water that the Government applies applies to “those lacking water”.

“It’s not worth it, who promotes a certain type of investment or infrastructure, not taking into account that water is a scarce resource. And we don’t have any kind of limitation on the application of when it is necessary. It’s what art is made of”, said Du, warning Cordeiro that investing without taking into account who we have water for can have consequences.

And: “It is important that we explain that we get used to living with less water, everyone, agro-industrial activities too, the economic sectors, and everyone who looks at what are the opportunities we have”.

Portugal, defender of the minister, has work done in this matter, because it went from 15% of treated wastewater in 1990 to 99% today. “And this has an immediate impact on the level, for example, of blue flag beaches”, this year around 430.

In other words, he said, treated water ends up at sea, which is reflected in the quality of coastal waters, which is also reflected in marine biodiversity.

Drought in Portugal is not conjunctural, but structural – Minister of the Environment

The Environment Minister, Duarte Cordeiro, defended this week that water management requires a permanent “clear political” agenda and warned that the drought in Portugal is structural, with reserves guaranteeing at least two years for public supply.

Duarte Cordeiro conveyed this position at the opening of the high-level symposium on Water, held within the framework of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), which began on June 27 in Lisbon.

“We have to be increasingly thrifty in the use of water”, said the minister, adding: “We have to save it at home”, “to preserve it at its sources”, “to use it as a rule in agriculture, to use it well” as “reusing it for purposes that do not require its potability”.

To frame the issue of parsimonious use and preservation of Climate Action, Portugal mentioned the second most, and that the need for the second need with the need to have drastic low need for soil water in dams and available.

“Thanks to careful water management, Portuguese reserves guarantee at least two years of water for public supply. But we have to live with certainty or with certainties, to ensure availability within certain limits or within certain date limits of “Portugal, the drought to ensure no illusions” is conjunctural, it is structural”.

Underlines that “we need them in the last 20 years and that until the end of the future will determine our future studies”, Duarte, the forecast date that will take about 15% rain will be reduced even more, between 10% to 25%.

“It will have a devastating effect on the amount of water that will flow into the dams and aquifers, the main reservoirs for human supply and agriculture: a reduction of between 20% and 50%”, he said.

Recalling that the doubt is only this minister of water today) (which represents only water 2,5,5 a global phenomenon, he did not claim to have the slightest idea about the need to “improve local governance, at the local level”, national, regional and transnational is one of the […] big challenges”.

“Whether fresh, desalinated or salty, on the surface or in aquifers, water and its management demand a clear agenda. Not in a circumstantial way, but permanently. Water management requires concertation and negotiation”, said Duarte Cordeiro, signaling that the challenges facing Portugal and the world today require “new models of public policies, more agility in the execution of public policies and more innovation”. parts”.

In this sense, Portugal’s will to reinforce innovation and cooperation at a global level, largely and largely, are not of significant origin, but also of origin, namely, a level of convenience, development of the complementary reality. reuse of water for non-potable purposes and the evolution towards smart infrastructure.

“In particular, the sanitation industry, which is, par excellence, that of circularity, must be focused on the industry in generating value. products, water treatment as a source, raw material that can be transformed into fertilizer materials, bioplastics, chemical and other materials, water for different purposes”, can also transform different materials.

In a symposium on drinking water in several countries, whether participation in recent years of reference in several countries is safe, whether participation in recent years is about quality, reinforcing the message of quality, with drinking water essential . and scarce, it is necessary to treat it more and better.

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