Brava: Residents of Furna Report Worsening Water Shortages and Call for a More Reliable Water Supply

As the situation worsened, residents once again turned to the media to express their dissatisfaction with the irregular water supply, which, they say, primarily affects the Cutelo area and the vicinity of the church.

Speaking to Inforpress, resident Henrique Andrade described the situation as “very serious,” noting that he pays his water bills every month, even though, as he stated, water flows from his tap only once every 45 days.

“My wife is sick and can’t carry water. A few days ago, I went to the city, Nova Sintra, with nine jerry cans so a friend could get me some water. To transport the water from Nova Sintra to Furna, I paid 500 escudos,” he reported.

For Henrique Andrade, the situation calls for urgent intervention by the company responsible for the water supply, given that the population is “going from bad to worse.”

“Águabrava needs to look into this situation, because things are already going from bad to worse. The areas suffering the most in this community are Cutelo and the area around the church. It takes a month—45 days—for us to receive water,” he lamented.

For her part, Dulcilina da Luz, a resident of Cutelo, said she can no longer remember the last time she saw water coming out of her faucet.

The resident believes that, as a customer of the water utility, she has the right to receive the service she pays for on a regular basis.

“We know there’s a water shortage on the island, but there’s a water supply truck on the island. I think that truck should be sent to supply our neighborhood,” she argued.

Dulcilina da Luz also explained that, due to the location of her home, she is forced to turn to residents of streets in lower-lying areas to get water, and then pay someone to transport it to her house.

“In my case, to get water, I have to go to the streets further down to ask for water and pay someone to bring it to my house. I can’t keep doing this every day. I’m an Águabrava customer and I pay my bill every month,” she said.

In February 2025, the then-Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Gilberto Silva, assured that the seawater desalination project would resolve both the quantity and quality of water in Brava, emphasizing that the infrastructure would have the capacity to meet the municipality’s water supply needs.

However, the plant’s start-up has faced technical challenges related to the presence of manganese in the collected water.

In February 2026, the then-minister assured that a technical solution was being developed to remove the manganese prior to the desalination process and set March as the deadline for resolving the issue.

However, to date, the plant has still not become operational, according to information gathered by Inforpress.

Inforpress attempted to contact the company Águabrava to obtain a response to residents’ complaints and clarify the current status of the water supply in Furna, but has not received a response as of yet.

Inforpress