The island of Faial, in the Azores, will carry out a pilot experiment in water resources recovery, turning brackish water into “water of better quality,” a project that will be financed by community funding.
“We have an identified problem of high salinity in the water from the Cancelas borehole, in the parish of Castelo Branco, which has degraded over many years of use, and what is intended is to inject rainwater, in order to recover it and provide the population with water of better quality,” explained the president of the Horta City Council, Carlos Ferreira, in statements to journalists.
The Azorean mayor spoke on the margins of a meeting taking place in the city of Horta, gathering international representatives of the European project Genesis, which aims to strengthen the climate resilience of critical water infrastructures and improve resource management through nature-based solutions.
“We have on the island of Faial more than 30 specialists, technicians and advisors from this project who, in addition to the Genesis General Assembly, include ‘workshops’, technical meetings and also a visit to the Cancelas borehole,” explained Carlos Ferreira.
For now, 300 thousand euros will be invested in the recovery of the Cancelas borehole, fully funded by community funds, but if the solution proves successful the intention is to apply it also on other Azores islands and sites across Europe.
“This same technique will be applied to other boreholes on other islands, which have the same problem as ours, whether here in the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands or Cabo Verde,” the mayor disclosed.
The Greek Pavlos Tyrologou, a member of the European Federation of Geologists, also present at the meeting, explained that the program’s objective is to find solutions for the recovery of water resources, combining tradition with technology.
“We try to bring the old wisdom and tradition of previous generations and capitalize on it with science. You will see in this project ways in which people capture and preserve water, with the help of sensors and new technologies,” he underlined.
The Genesis project (Geologically Enhanced NaturE-based Solutions for climate change resiliency of critical water InfraStructure) began in September 2024 and runs until August 2028, with a budget around 10.5 million euros.
