João Matos Fernandes indicated that the first of five meetings will take place on Wednesday, led by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), to assess the technical measures to be taken against the drought.

The first meeting will take place in the Algarve, followed by the remaining hydrographic sub-regions.

At the end of the meeting, in which the Portuguese municipalities will participate, “concrete measures to reduce and save water will most likely be enacted”, according to the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action.

According to Matos Fernandes, another objective of these meetings is to align with “a major water saving campaign”.

“In the immediate future, what can be done is most likely to enact new measures to restrict the use of water, which mainly involve agricultural activity, and other urban activities”, he added.

And he added that “the watering of green spaces, the washing of streets and the washing of some equipment may be conditioned”.

“Let's see what is happening in each region, because each region is different and each drought situation is also different”, said the minister.