Rainwater could help restore Faial’s Cancelas well as a freshwater source

Restoring a water source affected by salinity is the goal of an experiment that the European Genesis project will support on Faial. According to RTP Açores, European funding will enable a trial involving the injection of rainwater into the Cancelas well, aiming to improve water quality and make it suitable for drinking.

The intervention matters because of the well’s role in supplying residents. In information published in April 2025, Portugal’s National Laboratory of Energy and Geology identified it as the sole water source for around 3,000 people in the area immediately north of Horta airport. The laboratory linked saltwater intrusion to the way the well was being operated and described its collaboration with Horta Municipal Council and the Azorean company Trisolaris.

Genesis documentation places the experiment within an aquifer storage and recovery system. The proposal involves using surplus water held in existing reservoirs to restore the Cancelas well’s freshwater supply capacity. The system is to be studied, built and evaluated, meaning that restoring the source remains a project objective rather than an established result.

In its report of 6 October, RTP Açores said the intervention was being discussed at a Genesis General Assembly in Horta. Running from September 2024 to August 2028, the European project tests nature-based solutions to strengthen water infrastructure against climate change. For the Azores, the trial connects that research with a practical need: protecting an island water source and assessing ways to recover groundwater resources affected by saltwater.