AEPSA: Mainland Portugal wastes 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per hour

"It's the water that I'm collecting, treating, pumping into the reservoir and sending to people's homes that gets lost," says the president of the Association of Portuguese Companies for the Environment Sector ( AEPSA ), Eduardo Marques.

In an interview with Lusa, the official believes it is necessary to increase water tariffs, a sector that has become accustomed to subsidies, argues that in general terms the value of water is low, and talks about the inefficiencies of the sector, firstly the losses of drinking water, around 27%.

In addition to the data on losses (in pipelines, branches or reservoirs), which are public, Eduardo Marques also provides other figures: private concessions, which serve 20% of the population, have a much lower average loss rate, around 13%.

According to the leader's calculations, if the entire country were as efficient as the private sector, 90 million cubic meters of water would be saved, the equivalent of a reservoir with a base equal to a football field and nine kilometers high.

One of the reasons for the losses is the poor condition of the infrastructure, but according to the official, the country is rehabilitating one-eighth of what it should.

"Not in the private sector, as we are obliged to rehabilitate according to the contracts, but we are passing on a huge investment responsibility to future generations throughout the country."

Eduardo Marques adds that asset rehabilitation must be done "at the right times," and admits that it's the type of investment that "doesn't generate votes," because the pipes are hidden underground, so "there's usually a tendency to drag this type of investment out over time."

With less and less rain, and predictions of the situation worsening, the official says that, when it comes to water, "the country has an obligation to be more efficient."

And this efficiency, he assures, does not just involve desalination plants, more dams, it essentially involves reducing losses.

"What we can save in public networks is greater than the capacity of the desalination plant , and no major investments are required. There's a misconception that water loss savings can only be achieved by replacing pipelines, but this is false. With efficient management, losses can be reduced in the short term," he says.

That's why the government's proposal for the sector, "Water that Unites," criticizes the large investments planned for pipeline repairs. But it adds that significant funds are needed for the sector, for investments that cannot be postponed, because "without water, we cannot live."

"If I don't have money, I'm not efficient, I'm using more water, I'm harming the environment. We have to combine both," warns the president of AEPSA, an association of Portuguese companies in the environmental sector, from water to waste management.

There are 45 members, representing 20 thousand workers and an annual turnover of 1.2 million euros.

When questioned by Lusa, the official said he did not generally agree with the Algarve Water Efficiency Plan presented by the government, which emphasizes the rehabilitation of pipelines and less on good management, and which emphasizes the use of water from WWTPs when this is not always feasible.

What is fundamental, he summarizes, is to end politicized tariffs, to increase competition in the sector, to have efficient systems, whether in urban public supply or in agriculture.