Portugal's Alqueva project faces opposition to new Guadiana dams

The municipality of Mértola welcomed the launch of two new dam projects on the Guadiana tributaries Terges, Cobres and Carreiras, describing them as "structuring" for local development and water‑resilience. The Empresa de Desenvolvimento e Infraestruturas do Alqueva (EDIA) announced a public tender for the design and environmental impact study of the Terges‑Cobres dam, with a budget of €990,000 and proposals due by 20 July; the Carreiras dam tender is expected to follow within a month. Both projects are part of the national “Água que Une” strategy to increase the resilience of the Alqueva water system.

Environmental NGO Zero issued a formal demand that the government halt the two dam initiatives and suspend the public tenders. The group called for an independent post‑evaluation of the Alqueva multi‑purpose enterprise, arguing that further water storage is unsustainable in a basin already over‑exploited and vulnerable to climate‑driven reduced precipitation. Zero warned that the dams could exacerbate water scarcity and cited concerns over the legitimacy of large‑scale infrastructure studies.