The Municipal Water and Sanitation Services (SMAS) of Almada announced the acquisition of new high-capacity reservoirs to respond to situations of water interruptions, the body said.
In a statement published on its official page, SMAS explained that they have reinforced their capacity to respond in situations of water supply interruptions, with the acquisition of new IBC reservoirs – large-capacity containers suitable for storing and transporting liquids.
According to SMAS, the new equipment, with a capacity of 1,000 liters each, constitute an additional contingency solution for storage and provision of water for human consumption, to be used whenever there are programmed or unforeseen interruptions in supply.
“These reservoirs are intended, in the first place, to ensure the water supply to priority customers, such as healthcare facilities, nursing homes, schools and firefighters, and may also be used to support other customers whenever circumstances justify it,” they note.
In the same note, SMAS add that they will now carry out water-quality tests, with the aim of determining the conditions and the appropriate storage period for water in these reservoirs, ensuring the maintenance of water quality for human consumption.
The Almada Municipal Water and Sanitation Services also say that this new capacity will also be integrated in coordination with Civil Protection, strengthening the means available and the coordination between entities in contingency situations.
“The acquisition of these devices forms part of the preventive and preparatory work carried out by Almada’s SMAS to reinforce the resilience of the supply system and the capacity to respond to situations that may temporarily affect water supply,” they state.
The municipality of Almada, in the Setúbal district, has been on alert from the beginning of July until the end of August due to successive failures in water supply, with particular impact on Costa da Caparica, which led to several protests by the population.
Today the president of the Almada City Council, Inês de Medeiros, wrote on her official Facebook page that she will sign by the end of September the first agreement between the municipality, SMAS and EPAL to study a complementary water-supply solution in the municipality.
On Wednesday, the Minister of the Environment announced that the Government wants to have within four months a solution to the water shortage in the so-called Southern Margin, starting from the Castelo de Bode Dam and/or the Tagus River.
Maria da Graça Carvalho, who spoke at a hearing of the Environment Commission of the Assembly of the Republic, said that the technical solution will be complementary to the use of groundwater and added that, by order published on Wednesday, the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the ÁdP Group (Águas de Portugal) have been tasked with presenting a project within 120 days.
In light of this announcement, Inês de Medeiros said that the commitments made by the minister give hope that this solution can be operational as quickly as possible.
“This solution will not replace the current intakes. It is intended to reinforce the safety and resilience of the system, reducing the vulnerability that was so evident during the crisis experienced at the beginning of this summer,” the mayor stated, recalling that the crisis “made clear to everyone the structural fragility” already identified.
According to the mayor, Almada does not have within its territory the necessary intakes to ensure the population’s supply autonomously.
“Around 80% of the water we consume is drawn from the neighboring municipality of Seixal, which leaves us excessively dependent on decisions, understandings and infrastructures that are not entirely under our responsibility,” the mayor concluded.
