Brackish Water Ressources
Out of the 6 visited islands, the potential areas (around 10 to 20 ha) for biosaline agriculture were identified mainly at the island of Santiago, and also in some areas of São Vicente, more specifically at the downstream of the ‘ribeiras’ (wadis).
For the rest of the islands, the combination between good soils and brackish groundwater availability did not seem to co-exist, or further assessment was required.
The brackish groundwater environment in the downstream areas is due to seawater intrusion and systems are already destabilised by overexploitation.
An hydro-geological model of a typical ‘ribeira’ in Santiago was constructed, based on available data, to assess possible impacts on the project area and upstream areas.
The model showed that when the current water abstraction continues there will be further salinization of the aquifers, even without a biosaline project. This leads to increasing difficulties for the irrigated fresh water agriculture further upstream. The results of this simulation indicated an urgent need for an integrated groundwater management approach.
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