Location
Portugal / Europe
Project record
Algarve seawater desalination intake and outfall system
Águas do Algarve has started the design-build-operate contract for mainland Portugal's first seawater desalination plant. The system combines two intake towers about 2 km offshore, two large-diameter intake pipelines, a 2.13 km brine outfall, a coastal pumping station and a 4.8 km raw-water main to a 16 million m3/year first-stage plant.
Segment
Marine utilities
Status
Construction was released on 22 April 2026 and the site milestone was held on 8 July; offshore intake and outfall execution remains unverified / Confirmed
Last checked
18 July 2026
Coverage
Related sectors
Marine utilities is the primary work classification. Related sectors connect this record to adjacent marine delivery and market coverage.
Subject index
Related subjects
These subject pages bring together related projects, technical articles, reports, and evidence methods.
Project anatomy
Contract scope and delivery roles
- Client / authority
- Águas do Algarve, S.A.
- Delivery parties
- ACE Água para o Algarve: GS Inima, Aquapor and Luságua
- Contract route
- A mixed design, construction and operation contract signed with ACE Água para o Algarve. Águas do Algarve records €102.785 million for design and construction through provisional acceptance and €5.138 million for three years of operation, within a €107.923 million total contract.
- Execution window
- The contract allows 1,115 days from signature to provisional acceptance, followed by a 1,095-day operating period. Construction release was signed on 22 April 2026 and the symbolic first brick was placed on 8 July; the offshore installation start and accepted first-water date are not published.
- Works package
- Design and build a 500 l/s seawater reverse-osmosis system prepared for 750 l/s, including two offshore intake towers, DN1000 and DN1200 HDPE intake conduits, the EE1 raw-water pumping station, a roughly 4.8 km DN1200 main to the plant, a DN1200/DN1000 brine route extending 2.13 km offshore, treatment and energy-recovery systems, treated-water connection and three years of operation after provisional acceptance.
- Marine interfaces
- The marine works place two screened intake structures about 2 km offshore and connect them to the coastal pumping station through separate large-diameter pipelines. The brine return runs roughly 2.13 km offshore and requires a controlled dispersion and monitoring regime. Environmental records also anticipate seabed preparation and dredging around the intake structures and trenched sections.
- Commercial evidence boundary
- The principal contract is already awarded. Near-term supplier demand covers offshore survey and setting-out, marine plant, trenching and seabed preparation, large-diameter HDPE handling, intake structures, diffuser and protection works, environmental monitoring, testing and commissioning. Public sources do not disclose the marine subcontracting plan or package values.
Project timeline
Material developments
Dated events that changed scope, counterparties, delivery, commissioning or operating status.
Open this project in the Change LogThe first brick marked the site start
Águas do Algarve and the Portuguese government recorded the on-site ceremony and monitoring committee. The owner calls the event symbolic and does not report offshore plant mobilisation, pipeline installation or first water.
SourceThe owner signed the construction release
The release followed APA review of pre-start conditions under the DCAPE. It advances the whole contract into construction but leaves the offshore sequence and physical marine progress to later evidence.
SourceEnvironmental conformity remained subject to controls
The owner records a favourable execution-design conformity decision conditioned on mitigation, monitoring and compensation. The decision closed a regulatory gate without proving that construction or offshore installation had begun.
SourceThe mixed design-build-operate contract was signed
Águas do Algarve fixed the delivery consortium, €107.923 million total and marine system baseline. The contract includes three years of operation after provisional acceptance rather than immediate operating responsibility.
SourceAPA issued a conditional environmental decision
The study-stage decision required a later execution-design conformity review and additional marine safeguards. It did not authorize the project to be reported as under construction at that time.
SourceEvidence gap
What remains unverified
Outstanding evidence
- Final construction programme for the offshore intake and brine-return routes
- Marine plant, seabed preparation and trenching mobilisation
- Fabrication, tow-out and installation of the two intake towers
- Placement and connection of the two intake pipelines and 2.13 km outfall
- Sediment, fisheries, salinity-plume and discharge monitoring during construction
- Pressure testing, flushing, diffuser checks and integrated wet commissioning
- Provisional acceptance before the three-year operating period begins
- First verified 500 l/s production and later evidence for the 750 l/s expansion
Sources and related records
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Source collections
Project sources 6
- Algarve water resilience visit and symbolic start of the desalination plant Águas do Algarve, 9 July 2026
- Construction release after environmental conformity review Águas do Algarve, 23 April 2026
- Cornerstone laid for Algarve desalination plant Government of Portugal, 9 July 2026
- Mixed design, construction and operation contract for Algarve desalination Águas do Algarve, 4 November 2024
- APA conditional environmental impact decision for Algarve desalination Portuguese Environment Agency, 4 April 2024
- Algarve desalination key figures and marine route Águas do Algarve, Current project page reviewed 18 July 2026