Mourão: Government delimits protection perimeters for three groundwater abstractions

The Government has approved the delimitation of the protection perimeters for the groundwater abstractions Mourão 2 (483/60), Mourão 3 (483/49), and Mourão 4 (483/50), located in the parish and municipality of Mourão. The decision is contained in Ordinance No. 442/2026/1, of September 28, published in the Diário da República, 1st series, no. 188, of September 28, 2026, in the Environment and Energy section, and is signed by the Secretary of State for the Environment, João Manuel do Amaral Esteves, on September 23, 2026. The ordinance enters into force on the day following its publication.

The regulation complies with Decree-Law No. 382/99, of September 22, which establishes the standards and criteria for the delimitation of protection perimeters for groundwater abstractions intended for public supply, and is coordinated with Article 37 of the Water Law (Law No. 58/2005, of December 29) and Ordinance No. 702/2009, of July 6. The proposal was presented by the Portuguese Environment Agency, I. P. (APA, I. P.), based on the grounds of information no. I013342-202608-ARHALT.DPI, of August 18, 2026, and based on studies by Águas do Vale do Tejo, S. A., the managing entity of the abstractions.

The three abstractions supply 1,413 inhabitants, with an average volume of 90 m³/day. They are located in the water body Maciço Antigo Indiferenciado da Bacia do Guadiana, classified in the Guadiana Hydrographic Region Management Plan (PTRH7), 3rd Planning Cycle (2022-2027), with an overall poor status.

Three levels of protection

The ordinance divides the area into immediate, intermediate, and extended protection zones, with the vertex coordinates fixed in annexes i to iii, in the EPSG 3763 system (PT-TM06/ETRS89), and a location map in annex iv.

In the immediate protection zone, any installation or activity is prohibited, with the exception of those aimed at the conservation, maintenance, and improved operation of the abstractions. The covered lands must be fenced and kept clean of waste, products, or liquids that could cause undesirable infiltrations.

Prohibitions in the intermediate zone

In the intermediate protection zones, the following activities and facilities, among others, are prohibited:

• Aeronautical infrastructure, workshops, and car service stations;
• Storage of radioactive materials, hydrocarbons, and hazardous waste;
• Fuel filling stations and service areas;
• Transport of hydrocarbons, radioactive materials, or other hazardous substances;
• Pipelines for toxic products;
• Dumps and sanitary landfills, including landfills for hazardous, non-hazardous, or inert waste;
• Discharge and application of livestock effluents and sewage sludge;
• Industrial units, cemeteries, quarries, and mining operations;
• Scrap yards or waste management operations;
• Lakes and excavations intended for water storage that are not waterproofed.

Conditioned activities and extended zone

Sheep and goat farming, agricultural and livestock uses, the application of mobile and persistent pesticides, the construction of buildings, roads and railways, sports facilities and campsites, and septic tanks are subject to a prior binding opinion from APA, I. P.

In the extended protection zone, the transport of hydrocarbons and radioactive materials, the storage of these materials and hazardous waste, pipelines for toxic products, refineries and chemical industries, dumps and sanitary landfills, and the installation of septic tanks where public sanitation systems exist are prohibited. Sewage collectors and treatment plants, cemeteries, quarries and extractive industries, workshops and filling stations, and scrap yards are conditioned.

The delimitation binds agricultural, industrial, and construction licensing decisions in the municipality of Mourão and requires the adaptation of existing facilities in a territory whose public water supply depends on these three abstractions.

Source: Diário da República, 1st series, no. 188, of September 28, 2026, Environment and Energy (official reference: Portaria no. 442/2026/1).