The Environment Minister, Luis Nobre Guedes, has this week alerted that unless rainfall figures increase considerably in the coming weeks, exceptional measures, such as water rationing will have to be introduced in the near future. The Minister was speaking at the University of the Algarve, where he stressed that the region's water reserves were running on empty. The Greens have meanwhile already reacted to the news, stating they will be questioning the Minister in parliament whether golf courses will also be affected by eventual water rationing