# Water Extraction Licence – Portugal 2010



## Ronnie_Yook (May 9, 2012)

Water Extraction Licence – Portugal 2010

Has anybody in the expatforum successfully applied for, and received a 'Water Extraction Licence' in Portugal?

I have been clearing the dust and cobwebs from my files in my Portugal pending tray, and have posted my 'annual letter' to the Administraçao da Região Hidrografia, Castelo Branco, enquiring about the application we made in April 2010 for a Water Extraction Licence, which we, as having a property without connection to the Public Water Services, and using our own water source on the property, we had to, by law, apply for this licence.

We received an acknowledgement of our application (rare) in July 2010, and have heard nothing since, hence our writing 'annually' requesting any information.

Have you applied for and received a Water Extraction Licence ...or are you also still waiting?


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

As far as I know you only need a licence for any Bore Holes or if you use a "water mine" or you use a extraction pump of +5hp


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## Ronnie_Yook (May 9, 2012)

Hi canoeman,

Our application submitted in 2010, was for 
'Licença utilizar o Recursos Hidricos – Captacao de Aguas' 
which was for the capitation of the (lovely) water from our _fonte_ (spring), for domestic use, and the _rega _(irrigation) of our land. We were also informed that a licence was also required for our _Aguas Residuais_ (Septic tank).

Ref:- MINISTÉRIO DO AMBIENTE, DO ORDENAMENTO DO TERRITÓRIO E DO DESENVOLVIMENTO REGIONAL 
Decreto-Lei n.o 226-A/2007

The form 'Elementos necessarios a instruçao do pedido de Licença de utilizaçao dos recursos hidricos – Captaçao de Agua.

When approved, the licence (I believe) is valid for 10 years.

During this application, we got the Agua Serviços, of the Camera Municipal, Sertâ, to sample and analyse our water. This was done and about 2 weeks later we received a laboratory report from the lab in Coimbra, and as expected it was 100% OK, perhaps even better quality than we had in the UK!

Although these weblinks are old, and for the 'Algarve', the information and laws are (I believe) equally the same throughout Portugal:-

Algarve Resident, 10th December 2010 weblink: Water resources | Portugal Resident

Algarve Resident, 7th May 2009 weblink:-	
Help is at hand for new water resource declaration laws | Portugal Resident

Algarve Resident, 23rd April 2009 weblink:-	
Property owners are forced to declare water resources | Portugal Resident


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

At the time there was lots of "activity" & also misinformation about licencing but when it had all settled down the situation was much simpler than the initial flurry where apparently anything whatsoever to do with water reguired registration & licencing, but yes it's a National Law, 

As I said I believe the reality is
Boreholes must be licensed and pay a yearly fee
Water mines should be registered/licensed 
Springs,wells *only* reguire registration/Licencing if a pump of *+5hp* is used

New Fosse would reguire permission but any Fosse only requires registering/Licencing if occupancy is +10 people, we at time did register our Fosse although we didn't need to which took appox 3 months.

Algarve Resident afraid I take any/most articles published by them with a pinch of salt as if there's a negative or sensationalism to print they will and should be checked against other sources

Re Analysis any blood test clinic also does water analysis

Personally I think registration of water mines, springs, wells, bore holes a good thing as it might stop someone above your source being given permission to install Fosse that might contaminate your water source


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## Ronnie_Yook (May 9, 2012)

canoeman said:


> At the time there was lots of "activity" & also misinformation about licencing but when it had all settled down the situation was much simpler than the initial flurry where apparently anything whatsoever to do with water reguired registration & licencing, but yes it's a National Law,
> 
> As I said I believe the reality is
> Boreholes must be licensed and pay a yearly fee
> ...


 Yes canoeman, I agree, especially the last part about registration...and, you never know, that here in the '_Ozarks_' somebody might pitch a claim!

So...amanha for a reply from the water authorities...mind you it took EDP 4 years to install our electricity supply!


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## Ronnie_Yook (May 9, 2012)

Ronnie_Yook said:


> Hi canoeman,
> 
> Our application submitted in 2010, was for
> 'Licença utilizar o Recursos Hidricos – Captacao de Aguas'
> ...


Apologies for above links to the 'Algarve Resident'. These were correct at 2010, but they have changed it's name to '*Portugal Resident*'.

Apologies for any confusion.

Ronnie_Yook


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