North and Central of the country have this year “greater water shortage”

“ Nlast year, the national average was 72% [water reserves], at the moment we have, I think, 75%. Anyway, there is something completely different that worries me about every year that is the greatest scarcity in the North and the Center than in the South ", said Maria da Graça Carvalho.

The Minister of Environment spoke in Soure, in the district of Coimbra, during a visit to the intervention works that take place in the river Arunca, after the storms of the beginning of the year, integrated into the City Day, in which she received the Gold Medal.

To journalists, the governor explained that the three basins that “are worse than last year” are those of Lima, Vouga and Mondego, while the Algarve “is far above last year”, as well as Alentejo Coastal, Tagus and Guadiana.

According to Maria da Graça Carvalho, it is necessary to do “great monitoring in water” for its importance for all socio-economic activities and for being related to electricity.

“ We produce and have been protected from rising gas prices, because we have a lot of renewable [energy]. And we have a renewable that is precious, which is water, which gives us stability to the system. Now, if we have less water, we will have to be careful and careful about the use of water, which will make us use more gas, which is very expensive ", said.

The Environment Minister has ensured the monitoring of all basins and that water energy is being used cautiously to ensure a balance.

“ We are monitoring all the effects and all the basins, day by day, hour by hour, doing in a very cautious way the use of renewable water energy, exactly to maintain balances ", sustained.

No rain forecast until the end of September and some indications of extreme events at the beginning of next year, Maria da Graça Carvalho stressed that “there is much caution” to have.

“What I mean is that difficult times are approaching, they have never been easy since we are in government. This war or international instability is the sixth crisis we are facing in two years and we will continue, because there are many things that combine and connect with energy in general and with water, but we are very aware, concerned and vigilant about all these phenomena”, he concludes.