APA Eases Groundwater-Drilling Ban Across Most Algarve Water Bodies, the Moura-Ficalho Aquifer and the Left Bank of the Tejo-Sado — Faro Plain and Coastal Salt-Intrusion Zones Stay Frozen

The Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (APA) has partially lifted its moratorium on new groundwater drillings — the so-called furos de água — across most of the Algarve, the Moura-Ficalho aquifer in the Guadiana basin and the left bank of the Tejo-Sado basin, after the agency's April 2026 review of 313 monitoring points across 54 aquifers found water levels broadly at or above the historical average.

The decision unwinds part of a freeze that had been in place since the 2022-2023 drought cycle and that had hardened in the wake of the 2024 Algarve water-stress notice. It does not, however, mark a full return to pre-drought permitting. APA's review found the recovery 'is not homogeneous or structural,' with situations of 'elevated vulnerability' persisting in specific sub-zones — chiefly the Faro Plain subsystem and the coastal aquifer ring where saltwater intrusion remains the binding constraint, both of which stay under the original moratorium.

What Is Now Permittable

The lift covers three distinct areas:

• The Moura-Ficalho aquifer, on the Spanish border in the Guadiana basin, returns to standard permitting.
• All Algarve water masses except two — the Faro Plain subsystem and the coastal salt-intrusion prevention strip — return to permitting.
• The left bank of the Tejo-Sado basin, where the lift will be applied gradually over the coming weeks as APA processes the queue of pending applications.

The Sotavento and Barlavento Algarve agricultural districts have been the most active applicant pool during the freeze, with both citrus and intensive-horticulture growers pressing for a partial unwind to relieve surface-water rationing imposed during the dry summer 2024.

The Conditions APA Attached

Approval of any new well under the partial lift requires applicants to demonstrate the unavailability of alternative water sources and to commit to a strict monitoring regime:

• Automatic, remote-transmitted measurement of extracted volumes;
• Installation of water-level sensors with remote data transmission;
• Use restricted to agricultural and industrial applications;
• Volumes subject to revision based on aquifer recovery trajectories;
• Temporary suspension in the event of a critical drought event.

The conditions sit inside the existing legal framework for water-extraction licences under the Decreto-Lei n.º 226-A/2007 framework as amended in 2020, but the APA has now built the monitoring obligations directly into the licence text rather than holding them as auxiliary technical compliance.

What the April Review Found

APA's April 2026 monitoring sweep covered 313 monitoring points across 54 aquifers. The agency's statement noted that 'most of the present levels are close to or above the historical average,' a reading that contrasts sharply with the April 2024 sweep when more than two-thirds of monitoring points sat below the historical average. The 2025-26 hydrological year benefited from above-average winter rainfall on the Centro and Norte regions and an unusually wet February in the Algarve, both of which fed the aquifer recharge cycle.

APA emphasised that groundwater represents 'essential strategic reserves for the public supply and the country's water security,' framing the partial lift as an adjustment of the licensing rate rather than a relaxation of the underlying conservation principle. The agency said it would publish a full update on the Tejo-Sado lifting schedule before the end of May.