“I would like to highlight that 90% of our employees are from Monchique or neighbouring boroughs. This is a matter that we value in the recruitment process,” he said.

Gonçalves also commented on the devastating effects of the 2018 wildfire that ripped through Monchique, stressing how it also affected the water company and some of its assets, although “thankfully it did not affect the water quality”.

He also expressed his concerns about the Algarve’s ongoing drought and said that Água de Monchique is “very careful about how it explores its aquifer”, announcing that the investment the company made in state-of-the-art machinery will help reduce the amount of water that is lost in the bottling process by 15%.

Another innovation will be the launch of a new app in April for smartphones (IOS and Android) which will reward people for recycling. To use it, all you have to do is take a picture of yourself while recycling to win discounts.

Original article written by Bruno Filipe Pires for the Barlavento newspaper