Water service restoration in Sintra on schedule.
Widespread Power Outage Hits Portugal and Spain
On Monday afternoon, several parts of Lisbon, Portugal, and neighboring regions like Sintra, experienced a water crisis due to a power outage that started at around 11:30 am. The municipal services of Sintra had no water in the taps, but officials expect the situation to normalize by 3 pm.
According to a municipal report, the Portuguese Water Company (EPAL) cut off the water supply to some municipalities in and around Lisbon, including Sintra, due to the said power outage. The connection was restored at 8:30 am today, and the water shortages are currently not due to any damage but rather filling up reservoirs, a process that takes time.
The Sintra City Council reported that everything else is functioning normally following the electricity restoration.
Following the power outage, Lusa investigated its impact in municipalities around Lisbon. Oeiras announced that all services had been restored and were operating again since 11:30 pm on Monday. Odivelas experienced a complete electricity restoration by 00:23, and the water supply was restored, though residents in Vale Nogueira, in the Canecas parish, were without water until 12 pm.
The widespread power outage affected not only Lisbon but also major cities in Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona, and Seville, starting at 11:30 am in Lisbon and 12:33 pm in Madrid, with the exact causes still under investigation. Oscillations in the electrical network, substation failures, grid resilience, and the challenge of managing increasing renewable energy in the grid are among the suspected factors.
While the specific impact of the outage on water supply in Sintra and Odivelas is not extensively documented, generally, power outages disrupt water treatment and distribution systems, making it difficult to pump water or operate treatment facilities. However, further information on this matter remains unclear.
Recovery efforts are ongoing, with Spain's grid retrieving full operation after approximately 23 hours. Portugal resumed energy imports from Spain with restrictions to stabilize the energy market.
- The sudden power outage in Portugal, which impacted cities like Lisbon and Sintra, can potentially disrupt environmental-science processes, particularly water treatment and distribution systems, similar to the situation observed in Odivelas, where residents were temporarily without water.
- Climate-change measures and long-term environmental-science solutions might include utilizing renewable energy sources for water treatment and distribution facilities to minimize the impact of future power outages on Portugal's water supply, considering the potential role of increasing renewable energy in the grid in such incidents.
