Alonso Miguel presented the State of the Azores Streams Report 2022

Jan. 31, 2023

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, presented today the State of the Azores Streams Report 2022 (RERA), at the Public Library and Regional Archive Luís da Silva Ribeiro, in Angra do Heroísmo.

Alonso Miguel began by stating that "the hydrographic network of the Archipelago is extremely extensive, covering about 7,000 kilometres, spread over more than 700 watersheds, and therefore it is not possible, with the available resources, to intervene in the entire length of the hydrographic network simultaneously".

"It is, therefore, essential to have the ability to assess and determine priorities according to the urgency of intervention, and the RERA is a key instrument for that purpose, contributing to ensuring the safety of people and property," he said.

The Regional Secretary pointed out that in the Region's Investment Plan for 2023, in addition to the funds for the construction of infrastructure and the upgrading of the hydrographic network, which represent an investment of more than 1 million euros, "a sum of 800,000 euros is also provided for the monitoring and maintenance work of the hydrographic network", to be implemented according to the priorities defined in RERA.

Alonso Miguel also recalled that, in 2022, "the Regional Government created the Legal and Financial Regime of Support for Climate Emergencies, which aims to respond to situations of loss and damage to property resulting from the occurrence of extreme weather phenomena, as well as to support public investment aimed at mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change, channelling, for this purpose, the revenue from taxes on the provision of plastic bags, with a planned budget of 400,000 euros for 2023".

"Around two-thirds of the 533 records made refer to surveys in new stretches of streams and around one-third to assessments of the situation regarding occurrences in previous years," revealed the Regional Secretary.

The governor also said that "in total, the assessment involved 228 different watersheds, covering about 560 kilometres of streams, with the vast majority of records, about 45%, being made on São Miguel, approximately 13 % on Santa Maria, 12 % on Terceira and 10 % on Pico." He also added that "were detected 281 new occurrences, a figure that is above the average of the last five years, spread over seven islands, as a result of several episodes of heavy rainfall in 2022.

Alonso Miguel also revealed that "silting and obstructions represent about 67 % of the occurrences, being the main typology associated with natural causes and that although the trend of deposit or abandonment of waste in water courses has decreased in recent years, this year, it remains the second most frequent type of occurrences, representing 11.5 % of occurrences, with incidence predominantly on the islands of São Miguel and Terceira".

He stressed that "65.5 % of occurrences are of moderate priority, 28.2 % need urgent intervention, and 6.3 % are very urgent, with very urgent situations located on the islands of Faial, Pico and Santa Maria.

"In 2022, there were 533 records, corresponding to the second-highest number ever. It also performed the highest number of surveys in new stretches of water lines since the beginning of RERA, specifically 338. With 281 occurrences, 2022 was also the third year with the highest number of occurrences", concluded the Regional Secretary.