A new groundwater extraction well began operating in Almada, Portugal, on Sunday morning, ahead of its originally scheduled late-July start, boosting the municipal water supply capacity by roughly 20 percent. The facility, designated GW1, was installed and connected to the grid in record time by contractor GeoWorks, adding 60 cubic metres of production capacity per hour to the system.
An initial start-up attempt on Saturday was postponed following resident complaints about generator noise, pushing the launch to Sunday. Despite the new well, night-time supply restrictions remain in place across the municipality.
The accelerated timeline follows the activation of a contingency plan and crisis cabinet by SMAS de Almada on July 6, after water supply failures were reported in recent days, particularly in Costa da Caparica.