Portugal “loses” 60% of water that goes for human consumption

Environmental association Quercus has sounded the alert over what it calls the “speed of anthropogenic pollution” (meaning negative human impact) affecting the country’s natural water supplies. The NGO stresses that underwater aquifers have “limited capacity for regeneration” while supply networks are plagued by losses, some of them due to “clandestine connections”. Losses in systems for human consumption can reach 60% while agricultural losses waste 42%, said the group.