Amount of water doubled in the western Algarve river basin – Economy

The amount of water stored in the windward river basin rose to 20.8% on March 31, double that seen in February, but remained the one that retains the least water in Portugal.

According to data from the National Water Resources Information System (SNIRH), in March, there was an increase in the volume stored in nine river basins and a decrease in three.

Despite the increase seen in the last month, the amount of water retained in the windward basin was far from the average, which is 74.1%. In February this basin was at 12.5% ​​of its capacity and in January it was at 9.4%. At the end of February, the entire Algarve region was in a situation of weak meteorological drought.

March 2024 storages by river basin are higher than the storage averages for the same month (reference period 1990/91 to 2022/23), with the exception of the Ave (69.9%), Mira (40 .3%), Ribeiras do Algarve (Barlavento 20.8%) and Arade (40.9%).

On the last day of March, the Tagus, Cávado and Guadiana basins were those with the highest volume of water, with 95.4%, 93.8% and 91.4%, respectively.

According to the SNIRH, of the 60 monitored reservoirs, 38 had water availability greater than 80% of the total volume at the end of March and four had water availability less than 40%.

Each river basin may correspond to more than one reservoir.