How Madeira's Mountains Supply Freshwater For The Island | Islands of the Future

[Music] Once Upon a Time their inhabitants used to battle against wind waves and isolation now they're harnessing the forces of nature to provide clean energy islands of the future role models for the whole [Music] world it's a small piece of Portugal in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco mad's mountains rise up nearly 2,000 M into the sky they're not only beautiful to look at they also secure the life of the island without water from the mountains the inhabitants of madira would be high and dry the struggle for water has always made the island inhabitants [Music] inventive nowadays with a million tourists visiting the island every year the beauty of the place is under threat mad's inventive Talent is needed once again will there be enough for everyone in future too drinking water and environmentally friendly [Music] energy [Music] it's also called The Flower Island and not without reason madira is famous for its mild climate here on the edge of the tropics it's permanently Spring coited by heat and the farmers of madira grow vegetables sugar cane and bananas all year round since the Portuguese colonized mad in the 15th century people have inhabited the sunny South Coast in particular the farmers here use every inch of the land you might think madira is a g Garden of Eden Forever Green and fruitful but if man did not intervene here the island would have a very different face in summer the southern coast has rain only on one or two days a [Music] month actually it should be a lot drier here how do the Medan turn their Island into such a fertile land [Music] the answer lies in mad's mountains in the north of the island the clouds gather that are brought across the Atlantic Ocean by the trade wind even when it's not raining there's at least a Mist clinging to the slopes this is where the water begins its Journey Down to the farm fields on the Steep Mountain slopes the moisture allows Evergreen Laurel trees and bushes to thrive this jungle the Laurel Forest is found only on the Canary Islands the aors and madira the water collects in the Laurel Forest small trickles swell into streams and rivulets the land is much too steep in the mountains for G or Fields agriculture is not possible here instead the madans tap into Springs and creeks and lead the water into narrow channels these channels known as lavadas cut across the whole island from the water Rich North to the Arid Southern Coast at First Sight they look like simple concrete channels but in fact lavadas are engineering masterpieces the gradient of the lavadas is seldom more than 20 m per kilometer just enough for the water to flow constantly small gangs of building workers are often to be seen landslides are frequent on the slopes Stones roll down the mountains and land in the lavadas then muscle power is called for the strong man men are constantly at work on the lavadas they see to it that enough water gets to where it's needed most of the lavadas were built in the 1950s chroniclers recorded the backbreaking work on film their footage shows how hard and sweaty the work was the very first water channels were already constructed 500 years earlier when the Portuguese came to the island they forced African slaves to carve out channels in the Steep mountain region [Music] later the madans themselves took over the [Music] task where The Ravines are particularly precipitous the workers apt sail down using primitive equipment on the narrow rock ledges any false step could be your last [Music] they even had to drive tunnels through mountains to create a route for the [Music] water agustinho fera admires the work of the lavada builders as an engineer he knows better than anyone just what an achievement it was austino fera works for the local electricity company he and his colleagues see the old irrigation system as a godsend water has always been essential for survival for the people of Madera this network of channels hundreds of kilometers long is unique in the world originally it just served to provide the people with drinking water and to irrigate the fields then in the last century they had another idea using it to generate electricity mad's electricity works gather the precious water all over the mountains some lavadas flow into Old tunnels where the water is stored they were driven into the mountain 60 years ago and they're still in use there are also surface storage basins in the mountains whether below ground or in the open air this water is also used to generate electricity the steep slopes are ideal for hydro electric power [Music] stations when the water shoots down the mountain it has enough Force to drive turbines it was in 1953 that the first two hydroelectric plants became operational they suffice to supply madera's energy needs up to 1960 high up in the mountains there's enough water for the power plants the whole year round that's why the oldest of them like the fasad denera plant were built in the middle of the Evergreen Laurel Forest austino fera and his boss Mario Kim Fernandes are thrilled by the old Power stations which are still running today the two Engineers are here on a special Mission they aim to revolutionize energy provision on the island using even more of these renewable energy sources I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make fish 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required Hydro power is one of the cleanest ways of generating electricity the turbines and generators operate completely without polluting emissions the engineers are really enthusiastic about the plant like their fellow Engineers worldwide the two of them are facing an enormous challenge madira 2 is planning an energy revolution in future they intend to generate more and more energy in as climate friendly a way as possible as at fasad Nera however the electricity companies can only use the water from the mountains under one condition once it's passed through the turbines at the power plant the energy companies have to channel the water onto the population on the coast they need it as drinking water and for watering their fields the water flows through tunnels built decades ago right down to the capital funch were gigantic projects in their day a 5 km long tunnel was built here using the simplest of equipment madira can be proud of that achievement because it was of fundamental importance for the people on the south coast especially during the summer providing sufficient water was the big [Music] challenge [Music] the more water the lavadas can collect in the mountains the more green energy Mario Fernandes and agustino fera can feed into the electricity grid and the more water the people of madira have available everything depends on how much precipitation the island receives not necessarily in the form of rain almost every day the mountain peaks are shrouded in Cloud the Mist helps to ensure that it's always moist in the [Music] mountains but why don't the clouds and the water they contain simply pass over the mountains instead of being caught by them these men give nature or madira a helping hand they put right what's been destroyed over the centuries above the Laurel forest heathland plants should actually be growing to a height of several meters but when the Portuguese took possession of the island they set fire to the forest in order to make space for pastures the forestry workers are now replanting the forest again as part of the struggle for water the men plant half a million trees a year all of them indigenous species the indigenous species are best adapted to the harsh conditions high up in the mountains to the wind weather and soil the plants comb the water out of the clouds much to the satisfaction of madera's botanists and not only [Music] them the forest of Madera is decisive for taking water from the Mist regardless of whether it rains a lot in summer or not at all as the Mist blows through the plants like this Heather tiny drops remain sticking to the leaves and then falling to earth like raindrops this brings almost as much as when it [Music] rains in the remote forests you might think that the island always had enough water but in fact every drop counts on madira because madira is no longer a remote island the number of inhabitants doubled in the 20th century 220,000 people now live on the island half of them in the Capital funchal alone nowadays funchal is a perfectly normal European city but the many people living here consume more and more water a lot of madans don't realize that water could be in short supply on their Island most people have a small Back Garden many grow their own fruit and vegetables or they run a small banana plantation but the plants only survive if they're watered in summer there are no water sources on the south coast so everyone claims their share of the lavada water from the mountains each farmer however small the plot is completely dependent in summer on an irrigation system to prevent trouble among the farm s there are firm rules as to how the precious water is distributed Jose Loro has a job which only exists in this form on madira he's a water distributor a ladero no one is as welcome a sight in summer as Jose Loro and the other 200 lados who work on the island the technique for Distributing water to the farmers is as old as the levada channels via the holes in the wall of a stone Basin the lero determines where the water flows to and for how long not all of his customers can have water every day the work of Jose Loro is a full-time job his predecessors used to travel round on foot or on Horseback nowadays the leros have their own company car as it were apart from that little has changed in the work of of the lever arrows over the course of time Jos Loro really needs to be on good terms with all of his 150 or so customers all of them want to be treated fairly as postmen deliver the letters elsewhere omad Jose Loro delivers the liters Maria Sardinia arrives early at her small field directly on the coast she has to be there when the water is due otherwise it runs past her [Applause] land when Jose Loro arrives Maria Sardinia has to make best use of her water time not a drop to lose even when it's a cloudy day like today in summer the clouds very rarely release their rain on the coast in earlier days there were sometimes Fierce disputes over the precious water people came to blows but nowadays the leros needn't worry the madans have calmed down even though Maria Sardinia for example would have to give up her small plot if there were no artificial irrigation carrots potatoes and the other vegetables would die of thirst in summer Maria wishes they had water every day in July the driest month on madira the levered era only comes every other week there's no more water to go around it's sometimes touch and go for Maria sardinia's plants if there are too many hot days her entire Harvest is in danger it's then Jose loreto's job above all to cool down people's overheated tempers in the dry season all his diplomatic skills are called for otherwise trouble is pre-programmed the nearer you get to the coast the less water there is so there's a hard and fast rule on madira drinking water comes first then it's the farmer's turn anyone else wanting water has to join the back of the queue in summer this affects the electricity works above all the pipes that lead to the hydroelectric power stations right down on the coast are dry every drop of water is needed for drinking water in summer and then for the farmers during the hottest period water is no longer used as a source of [Music] energy the Hydro power stations built directly by the Sea are on downtime the whole summer from early June till the end of September there is a standstill without water the island has no cheap and climate friendly [Music] energy instead DEA is then dependent on dirty fossil fuel for its energy a large diesel fired Power Station pollutes the atmosphere in summer especially the plant operates at full blast that's not just bad for the climate it's also extremely expensive to transport Diesel and gas in tankers to the iron stuck out in the Atlantic Diesel power costs three times as much on madira as on the mainland Mario Fernandes and agustinho fera the two Engineers from the electricity works want to get rid of costly Diesel power they aim to generate more electricity without burdening the climate but how is that possible when they have to shut down their power plants every summer water power alone cannot bring about madera's energy Revolution so they're planning to exploit other sources of energy the power of the wind and the sun wind turbines and solar [Music] panels madira already had its first wind powered generator in 1992 the first in the whole of [Music] Portugal back then the wind Parks were built directly by the Sea this is no longer allowed in order not to spoil the [Music] coastline so the energy companies have turn to the mountains instead the power Plateau is one of the most remote corners of madira this is where the energy producers have focused their attention since the year 2000 they've built more and more and ever larger wind turbines here the total output has increased 10 times in just 10 years to 45 megaw enough electricity for 40,000 people the wind turbines have proved a blessing for madira for another reason too they're bringing high tech to the island and creating high value jobs for a lot of young madans who used to move away to the [Music] mainland the large complexes need regular maintenance at Heights of up to 100 m the rule has to be safety first in the past Specialists used to come from the mainland for every inspection but there are now so many wind turbines on madira that the major manufacturers employ maintenance teams on the island but wind power has an unfortunate drawback one that's especially serious for a remote island you can only generate electricity when the wind is blowing and when it's calm madira can't simply import electricity there are no power cables between the island and Mainland Portugal 1,000 kilomet away and though it's hard to believe sometimes there's too much wind [Music] power at night when the madans turn in energy consumption sinks abruptly if the wind continues blowing the power it generates can't be used individual turbines are Switched Off to avoid overloading the power grid moments like these make the engineer's Hearts bleed it was always my dream for us to make Optimum use of all renewable energies on madira but there are limits wind energy is only of use to us if we can find customers for it immediately but we really want to use all resources everything that's possible with wind energy because wind is our cheapest source of energy so we have to find a way to store wind energy only then can we use it whenever demand for electricity is high Mario Fernandes and austino fera realiz more and more that wind alone couldn't be the answer for their Island they had to completely rethink their strategy how could wind energy be stored on their Island and where could they find the water they need in summer to produce electricity if they didn't answer these questions their whole project was under threat [Music] and if that wasn't enough 2/3 of Madar is made up of protected conservation areas the Island's breathtaking Landscapes are its capital tourists who come because of the natural setting don't want to see it covered in wind turbines [Music] fore spee m not everyone in mad's mountains is automatically a tourist of course sometimes you come across a group of biologists that work up here the team accompanying botanist Francisco Fernandes set off early this morning the reason for the arduous Ascent is the unique Flora of the island it has to be protected we conserve the forest of Madera because it's important for its biological diversity there are species here that are unique in the world so we have to protect them all the species in fact apart from that the forest is important for the water it collects and stores water and for erosion because the forest secures the soil Francisco Fernandes is looking specifically for indigenous plants they are best adapted to the soil and climate some plant species don't grow anywhere else such indigenous plants are especially vulnerable a disaster like a fire can wipe out an indigenous species at a stroke Francisco Fernandes and his team want to prevent that they're collecting the fruits and seeds of the rarest plants the day's Harvest is taken to funchal to the seed bank of the Botanical [Music] Gardens Olga Batista's job is to extract the plant seeds from the fruits if the seeds are properly stored they can germinate years later and grow into new [Music] plants she washes off everything that could rot or go moldy later once Olga Batista has dried the seeds they're ready for the seed bank botanists have counted over 800 plant species on madira 160 of them aren't found anywhere else in the world in refrigeration the seeds last for years even decades madera's Botanical Gardens have thus created an archive of life on the island an archive the biologists can resort to should it prove [Music] necessary they need the seeds for example for reforestation work in the mountains [Applause] hundreds of new saplings are ready for the next planting phase and then to start combing the water from the clouds the Botanical Garden isn't the worst place to work on [Music] madira the Fantastic view of funchal draws tourists to the sub tropical garden every day but it's not just nature that attracts a lot of people to madira the wine is also famous among [Music] connoisseurs the grape Vines were already on board when the first Portuguese settlers arrived on the island the Island's wine business is in the hands of eight families it's not the classic table wine that they produce here madira wine is drunk as an apparative or after a meal the venters interrupt the fermentation process by adding High proof Spirits this keeps part of the grape sugar in the wine in addition they store their wine in hot attics and let air into the large casks heat and air give madira its characteristic flavor but the madans don't live by wine alone fish is the rather more nutrition ious comestible on the island and you can appreciate that best of all in funchal's Fish Market all the Delicacies the Atlantic has to offer are displayed on the Stalls of the marado do lavadores a speciality is the Scabbard fish a predatory fish fish that the Anglers catch in deep water with a th000 M long fishing lines in the past the people of madira had to be completely self-sufficient nowadays there are too many people on the island for the local fishermen to meet their needs their catches augmented by imports from other Atlantic Islands like the cape veres but the fish don't only attract Gourmet to madira other tourists prefer to see their sea creatures alive the steeply shelving Coast is an elder for divers some of them make their very first exploration of the underwater world [Music] here it's thanks to the dedication of divers that the gurha national Marine Park came into being in 1986 it's the first of its kind in the whole of [Music] Portugal gura is certainly a tourist magnet but it's also the nursery for mad's underwater forner fishing is banned [Music] here [Music] this is the star of The Reef the great red grouper the MEO it's threatened with Extinction it used to be hunted mercilessly with harpoons now it can breed again in peace in the National Marine Park these Giants can live for over 30 years and weigh over 200 [Music] [Music] kilos the Mediterranean monk seal is even rarer than the mayro there are just 400 of them left in the world most of them in the Mediterranean I in the Atlantic madira is the only place these seals are [Music] [Music] found the large number of tourists who come to madira because of its natural beauty have changed the island tourism is by far the most important economic Factor but also the biggest threat a million tourists visit madira every year and they all expect the same sort of facilities that they have at home showers every day the hotel pool and electricity Around the Clock all this aggravates madera's problems the visitors are driving the water and energy requirements to Untold Heights nowadays madira consumes twice as much electricity as 20 years [Music] ago tourism could well destroy the very thing that many people are looking for here nature unspoiled and beautiful the little water available has to meet the needs of ever more people and the situation could get a lot worse scientists are afraid that climate change could make the Summers even [Music] dryer the two Engineers Mario Fernandez and austino fera could lose their Race Against Time their plan to supply the island with green electricity called for a project on a massive scale they wanted to store the water which the island has in excess in Winter for the dry summer period in the middle of a mountain in 2005 the engineers had large scale tunnel boring machines brought to the island what their forerunners did with the simplest of means 60 years ago was now being tackled with heavy machinery they drove a 4 km long Reservoir into the mountain the pressure rainwater was to be collected deep in the mountain a surface Reservoir in the open air was not a possibility it's difficult on Madera to build reservoirs above ground the sort of rock and the landscape don't allow that the solution we found for our problem is to build an underground reservoir that's enormously expensive and time consuming but it leaves the landscape unscathed and we will solve a great [Music] problem just a small Basin would eventually be visible from outside the Lion Share of the reservoir will be hidden in the mountain as planned in 2017 the mammoth feat was accomplished the reservoir went into operation [Music] the collected water could be distributed from the [Music] Basin the water companies channed off part of the water as drinking water for the inhabitants and the visitors unlik like other holiday Islands madira was therefore not dependent on drinking water being imported in tankers even in especially dry [Music] Summers the water that's not needed for anything else can be used by the power plants lower down from the Reservoir is madera's biggest and most modern hydroelectric power station suaros but despite the huge investment in the reservoir even sucos proved unable to operate every day in summer if it didn't rain for long periods water was in short supply here too all the water was needed for the public drinking water system and for watering the fields our plant was then sadly useless it made no contribution to supplying the energy needs of the island so despite the new water reservoir Fernand des's plans looked like miscarrying unless he could come up with something new he'd have to bury his dream of electricity from hydr power but the engineer did have an idea which sounded far-fetched what if the hydroelectric plant could recycle the water it used then it could still run even in the dry summer when there was no other water available the plan was to collect the water that would normally flow out to sea once it's passed through the power plant this would mean building a second Reservoir below the sakaros [Music] plant this second Reservoir holds as much water as passes through the turbines during the day 55,000 cubic m water that would otherwise run into the sea can now be collected in this Reservoir and reused in a central control room technicians operate the modern sakaros power plant from here they constantly monitor how high the demand for energy on madira is at any one time when demand rises in the morning they switch on the power station huge valves [Music] open and the water shoots out of the upper Reservoir in the mountain through the downpipe and sets the turbines in motion now suaros is generating electricity after that the water flows on into the lower Reservoir which gradually fills up so suaros can now produce electricity for the Ireland for a whole day without losing any water the power station's output is 50 megaw when energy demand Falls at night Fernand des's vision of storing wind power comes into play the wind which was once unused during the night can now fulfill an important [Music] role for this the engineers installed four enormous pumps in the power station with them the staff can now put suaros into reverse gear as it [Music] were when the lower Reservoir is full and the wind is blowing the technicians turn on the pumps The energy they need is supplied by the wind turbines in the mountains the water that's collected and stored during the day is pumped high up the mountain again at night into the upper Reservoir so this Reservoir is acting as a huge battery that's charged up by wind power madira now has what many Engineers around the world have been looking for a way of storing wind power the next morning the upper Reservoir is full [Music] again during the day when electricity is needed there is now enough water available to drive the turbines again at night the water once more changes Direction the wind power driven pumps transport it back up the mountain and suaros stores energy the sakuras plant is of immense importance for madir because it alone generates over 50% of our hydroelectric power it's a model for even more ambitious projects in order to secure the future of the people on this [Music] island a further hydroelectric power station is planned for the Paul deera Plateau 10 times the size of sukos a second hydrop plant that can go into reverse and store wind energy already has the goahead with it madira will at a stroke double the share that water and wind have in generating energy already by 2020 half the Ireland's electricity will be produced by renewable [Music] energies this puts madira several steps ahead of the rest of Europe in the European Union the plan is for just 27 % of electricity to be generated by renewable energies by the year 2030 madera's example shows a lot more could be [Music] done

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 16,275

Keywords: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries, conservation efforts, drinking water challenges, ethnographic documentary, future of island living, hidden gems, inventive solutions, island adaptation, island culture, island ecology, island resources, island society dynamics, sustainable practices, sustainable tourism, tourism impact, tourism pressures, tourism sustainability, tourist attractions, travel experiences, travel inspiration, water resources

Id: 7DziAZD5QLw

Length: 52min 54sec (3174 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 23 2024