The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry stated today that three types of structural interventions are planned to reinforce water supply and storage on the island of São Miguel. This year, the estimated investment reaches two million Euros.
 
"The plan developed by IROA (Regional Institute of Agrarian Planning) is a good response to water supply needs on São Miguel Island, which faced increased needs due to the drought that hit last summer," stressed João Ponte. He spoke on the sidelines of the presentation of IROA's investment projects for water supply and storage to agriculture on São Miguel.
 
The government official stated that some short-term interventions are expected to take place this year, including works such as the first phase of the water supply system of Ribeira de Água d'Alto stream, the interconnection of Bardo da Cruz water supply system to the dairy basin of Ponta Delgada, which began today. The interventions also include the collection and adduction of water from Ribeira do Salto da Inglesa stream and storage in Contendas water storage complex, among others.
 
João Ponte pointed out some interventions planned for 2020, a year in which the investment to be carried out on São Miguel in water supply and storage is expected to double. The collections of the water surplus from Sete Cidades Lake, the construction of the new artificial lake in the area of Contendas and the second phase of the construction of the water supply system of Ribeira de Água d'Alto stream
 
Meanwhile, there are ongoing studies on water needs that are being conducted on the islands of São Miguel, Santa Maria, Pico, São Jorge and Graciosa by IROA in collaboration with the University of the Azores, producers' organisations and municipalities for the definition of a 10-year action plan to respond to water requests for agriculture in the future.
 
"The IROA plan responds to requests on all islands, but there was a clear need on São Miguel due to the water storage deficit and, for this reason, we have taken the political option to make these investments that go beyond 2019," said he Regional Secretary.
 
According to João Ponte, this public response to the improvement of water supply in several Agrarian Planning Perimeters of São Miguel aims to make the agricultural sector more competitive and reduce production costs in farms.
 
In 2019, the overall investment of IROA, S.A. reaches 5.3 million Euros.
 
The island of São Miguel currently has 70,000 cubic metres of water storage capacity, which IROA expects to increase to about 100,000 cubic meters in 2020.