But more than a month after the critical period in the water supply in the municipality of Almada, in the Setúbal district, the Municipal Water and Sanitation Services (SMAS) assure that the situation is stable.
In a response sent to the Lusa agency, SMAS state that the nightly cuts in water supply are no longer taking place, maintaining the regular water supply to the population, as well as the phased execution of public and private irrigation, within the framework of responsible and gradual management of water resources.
SMAS further state that they are ensuring permanent monitoring of storage levels and the evolution of consumption, “a continuous monitoring that integrates the regular management of the water supply system and allows adjusting operations whenever necessary.”
Regarding reserves, they state that it is expected that average storage levels will generally remain between 75% and 76%.
The services warn, however, that these values may show natural fluctuations throughout the day.
These variations, they add, are directly dependent on consumption peaks, the time of day and the distribution system’s own operating conditions.
The latest update of these data, relating to Thursday, reported an average reserve of around 78%.
Since the beginning of July, there have been successive failures in the water supply in the municipality of Almada, with particular impact on Costa da Caparica, and the city hall declared a state of alert on July 8, which remains in place until the end of August.
The situation led to protests by the population.
At the beginning of August, the Almada SMAS and the Almada-Seixal Local Health Unit published two separate statements about the water quality in the municipality, indicating that it is safe for human consumption and that it remains in compliance with legal requirements.
“Following information that has circulated about the water quality in the municipality of Almada, SMAS clarify that the water supplied by the public distribution network remains suitable for human consumption, fully meeting the legal quality requirements,” the municipal services stated in a press release, adding that water quality control is carried out permanently.
This ongoing analysis, they explain, is carried out through “a rigorous program of monitoring and operational control, complemented by the sanitary surveillance ensured by the health authority, which from the very first moment has integrated the Crisis Cabinet created to monitor the water supply situation in the municipality.”
The Almada Municipal Water and Sanitation Services add that, within the alert situation, they reinforced the number of samplings and laboratory analyses, as well as the monitoring of residual chlorine levels and the tracking of new water sources integrated into the system, in line with the guidelines of the Water and Waste Regulatory Authority (ERSAR).
“The results obtained consistently confirm that the water distributed through the public network remains compliant with the legal quality parameters for human consumption, with no identified situations that represent a risk to public health,” they state.
The Almada-Seixal Local Health Unit (ULSAS) indicated in its statement that, parallel to the SMAS’s operational control of water quality, it reinforced the sanitary surveillance plan, with additional monitoring at various locations within the supply zones, including monitoring of the new water sources integrated into the system.
ULSAS stated that the results of the monitoring showed that “the water distributed through the public supply network in the municipality of Almada remains in compliance with the legal quality requirements for human consumption, with no identified situations posing a risk to public health, notably in terms of transmission of disease-causing microorganisms.”
