The environmental association Quercus argues that the companies that generate energy at dams should contribute to the disaster relief fund, announced on Thursday by the Government, with a percentage of the extraordinary profits resulting from the water accumulation in the dams.
The sequence of storms that struck the country in the last few weeks, causing 18 deaths and the total and partial destruction of homes, businesses, equipment, fallen trees and structures, also led to an accumulation of water wealth in the national dams, which are currently at their maximum water storage levels, the association said in a press release sent to Lusa.
As the main beneficiaries of the recent floods, energy-producing companies “can and should,” according to Quercus, contribute to the public fund to support future catastrophes, through an extra tax corresponding to a percentage of the extraordinary profits from this activity.
The passage of depressions Kristin, Leonardo and Marta also caused road closures, outages of electricity, water and communications, and floods and inundations, affecting especially the Centro, Lisbon and Tagus Valley and Alentejo regions.
The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, announced on Thursday in Parliament that the Portugal Recovery, Transformation and Resilience (PTRR) program, created to respond to the consequences of the storms, foresees the creation of a “fund that may be available to respond to calamity situations.”
The association also asks the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) to disclose monthly the percentage of water used by sector and by dam, highlighting the importance of monthly data on the expected duration of water storage, and the time horizon secured by water availability, to face extreme drought situations, and information about water used by sector and dam.
To discuss water management in Portugal, Quercus president Alexandra Azevedo also challenges the APA to reactivate the National Water Council, which she says has been paused for three years.
