The plan, designed by the company Hidra, founded by Saldanha Matos, aims to increase resilience to more severe precipitation events and reduce the risk of flooding in the city, particularly in the areas of Largo de São Luís. Priority interventions include reinforcing and rehabilitating the collector on Rua de S. Luís, diverting and controlling flow rates, a pluvial pumping system and an underground detention basin, constructing a separate network where the current one is combined, and implementing source control solutions, such as at the Penha campus of the University of the Algarve.
The objective is to strengthen the pluvial network by reconstructing it and diverting flows from Ataíde de Oliveira, D. Jerónimo Osório, and Pintor Artur Costa streets, alleviating the existing collectors. The project also includes protecting the discharge of the Ribeira das Lavadeiras and reinforcing domestic drainage for approximately 13,000 inhabitants, replacing the current asbestos-cement water distribution network. The S. Luís area has been identified as one of the city's critical points during heavy rainfall.
“"The first phase of this intervention, more robust, involves, among other works, laying a two-meter diameter pipe several meters long from the São Luís area to the Ribeira das Lavadeiras, valued at 10 to 12 million euros, while the second phase, which aligns with the Alameda XXI project, involves treating the Ribeira das Lavadeiras area, with an intervention of about 2 to 3 million euros."
The President of the Faro Municipal Chamber, António Miguel Pina, stated that a protocol will be signed with the Ministry of Environment to analyze funding sources. Saldanha Matos, a full professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico and author of the Lisbon Drainage Plan, considered the solution to be designed for 100 years, offering "an almost absolute guarantee that this area [São Luís] will no longer have floods," provided the system is maintained and other planned interventions are carried out.
The work, scheduled for 18 to 24 months, will cause disruptions and will be overseen by a commission comprising merchants and other stakeholders interested in or affected by the intervention.
