Alqueva dam in the Guadiana River Basin—Past and future of illusive water abundance

AuthorSusana Neto
Date01 May 2019
Published date01 May 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1002/wwp2.12001
World Water Policy. 2019;5:71–84. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wwp2
|
71
© 2019 Policy Studies Organization.
Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/wwp2.12001
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Alqueva dam in the Guadiana River Basin—Past
and future of illusive water abundance
SusanaNeto1,2
1CERIS,Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
2Institute of Agriculture,University of
Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
Correspondence
Susana Neto, CERIS, Instituto Superior
Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon,
Portugal.
Email: susana.neto@netcabo.pt
Abstract
The historical need for water storage in the Guadiana Basin
led to the construction of a large scale dam, creating a res-
ervoir with capacity of 4,000 million m3 and maximum
flooded area of 25,000 ha. The Alqueva Dam is a large
multi‐purpose project (irrigation, hydro‐electricity produc-
tion, domestic supply, recreation) that answers to the old
expectations of water storage in the dry region of Alentejo,
Portugal. The long “stop‐start” decision process was domi-
nated by political objectives, and both local communities
and major political forces envisaged Alqueva as a “magic”
solution for development of the Alentejo. This Project had
a general national consensus, although many environmen-
tal NGOs were clearly against it. The final decision of the
European Union to fund the Project, due to the regional de-
velopment perspective, was the decisive step to resume the
project. This paper discusses the “social perception of scar-
city” and the paradox of how this addition of a large volume
of water storage in the Guadiana basin led to a dramatic cul-
tural change in regional landscape and livelihoods, creating
new opportunities for foreign stakeholders, and users, but at
the same time did not necessarily increase access to water
for most of the local communities and small scale farms.
KEYWORDS
access to water, Alqueva dam, Guadiana River Basin, social water
scarcity, water governance

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