The president of the Regulatory Entity for the Water and Waste Sector (ERSAR), Vera Eiró, today congratulated eleven years of “success” in water quality in Portugal, reaching the overwhelming majority of the population.
In a commentary on the Annual Report of Water and Waste Services (RASARP, volume 2) for this year, which focuses on 2025, the official noted that for the 11th consecutive year the water quality indicator stands at 99%, a figure that reflects both the number of analyses performed and the results of those analyses.
This indicates, she said, that nearly the entire population has access to quality water at the tap.
“We are talking about 11 million consumers, and within these there may be 40 or 50 thousand, 30 thousand, who at times may have tap water that does not meet the standards,” which must be followed.
Vera Eiró highlighted that monitoring, oversight and supervision of the entire system involve several entities, beginning with the consumer, who must report when they encounter a problem, and including the managing entities or health authorities.
“It is a complex control system that then gives us access to these results, which should make us proud, as a country.”
But, she added, while there are municipalities with 100% safe water at the tap, others are below 99%, situations that are monitored daily, since achieving the current levels of success requires daily and constant work.
Vera Eiró noted that there are only two municipalities flagged for lower-quality water, out of a total of 278, and that in one of them the problem is merely administrative.
Questioned by Lusa about whether the floods at the start of the year could have influenced water quality, reflected in the report to be published next year, Vera Eiró said that the affected management entities invested in monitoring and that the treatment systems were fine-tuned.
“We have no record of additional non-compliance due to floods. Whenever there was water at the tap, it met the parameters,” she asserted.
That ‘ability to react’ and the adaptation of the managing entities were also evident in cases of scarcity, leading to treatment that is more difficult and demanding. ‘Scarcity affects the quality of raw water, not the quality of tap water,’ she assured.
