The announcement of the launch of the international public tender for the design and construction of Companheira's new Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), in Portimão, was published yesterday, the 27th, in Diário da República.
In other words, the tender for the work, promoted by the company Águas do Algarve SA (AdA), and which has a base price of 12 million euros, encompasses the design phase of the project and also the construction of the new infrastructure.
Teresa Fernandes, spokesperson for AdA, revealed to the Sul Informação that it is foreseen that the work can be awarded, "if everything goes normally", in "July of this year". However, the entry into operation of the WWTP is only expected in 2016.
The company or consortium that wins the contract will be responsible for the «preparation of the Companheira's WWTP Execution Project, the Environmental Compliance Report of the Execution Project (RECAPE), Safety and Health Plan, Technical Compilation, Environmental Management Plan in the Works and the execution of civil construction works (earthworks, reinforced concrete bodies, hydraulic circuits), supply and assembly of equipment (metal-mechanical, electromechanical, electrical, automation, instrumentation and supervision) and effluent discharge outfall treated in the middle receiver, of the new Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) of Companheira», can be read in the advertisement.
Despite the long-awaited launch of this work, the Municipality of Portimão and the Municipal Water and Waste Company (EMARP) have "serious doubts" about whether the future WWTP will respond to current problems.
João Rosa, general director of EMARP, told the Sul Informação that both the City Council and EMARP do not know whether the future WWTP will have "tertiary treatment of effluents, allowing the reuse of water in irrigation, and odor correction", to end the drama of the bad smell experienced every days by the structure's neighbors, especially the inhabitants of Companheira's village.
«We have already asked Águas do Algarve for information but nothing has been transmitted to us. We are directly interested in this process, but we were never sent more than a simple technical note, which says nothing concrete about what will be done there», laments João Rosa.
Regarding these fundamental aspects in Companheira's future WWTP, the company Águas do Algarve reassures local authorities and the municipal company of Portimão. Spokesperson Teresa Fernandes assured, in statements to our newspaper, that the future project will have «odor treatment and tertiary treatment, allowing to obtain a much better quality effluent, which can be used to water green spaces, namely gardens and fields. of golf'.
The replacement of the Companheira's current WWTP, which works by lagoon and which, despite treating sewage well, produces bad odors and is burst at the seams, especially since it also started to receive part of the wastewater from the neighboring municipalities of Lagoa and Monchique, has been planned since at least 2004.
At that time, the project was designed for 200 inhabitants, in the municipalities of Portimão, Lagoa and Monchique, and initially even provided for the reception of effluent from the Monchique pig farms, an aspect that was abandoned because it was industrial effluent and its conduction and treatment have unsustainable costs.
In 2011, the company Águas do Algarve launched an international public tender for the construction of a new inter-municipal WWTP, to serve the entire municipalities of Portimão, Lagoa and Monchique, then valued at 20 million euros, but this tender ended up with be nullified.
The international public tender launched yesterday, on the other hand, points to a much lower base price of 12 million euros. What is this reduction due to?
According to Teresa Fernandes, it is mainly due to the fact that the estimated population to be served has exceeded 200, a calculation that would be "very exaggerated given the current reality", for 140 people.
The new WWTP will add to the sewage of the three parishes of Portimão (Alvor, Mexilhoeira Grande and Portimão), Ferragudo and Parchal (Lagoa municipality), and the Brejão and Caldas areas, in Monchique municipality, which are currently treated by the structure. existing, with effluents from the parish of Estômbar (places of Estômbar, Calvário and Mexilhoeira da Carregação, in the municipality of Lagoa) and Monchique (seat of the municipality).
Additional information provided by Águas do Algarve SA:
«The construction of the new WWTP will make it possible to deactivate the current WWTP of Companheira, whose process line of treatment consists of a lagoon system, which includes preliminary treatment (harrowing and sand removal), and two lines of lagoons in parallel, each consisting of an anaerobic lagoon, followed by a facultative lagoon and a single maturing lagoon common to both lines.
The base solution treatment line recommended in the tender proposal for the new WWTP goes through the liquid phase treatment, which involves preliminary treatment, homogenization and equalization, secondary treatment and tertiary treatment, solid phase treatment, which involves thickening and dehydration, and odor treatment through deodorization.
The deactivation of the existing WWTP is justified by the limited capacity to face the inflow conditions, both qualitative and quantitative, by the need to comply with the quality requirements established by the Portuguese Environmental Association for treated effluent, an objective that is not achievable with the current line of treatment, and also due to the need to minimize or practically eradicate the bad odors that are felt in the vicinity of the installation.
The current Companheira WWTP is located in the municipality of Portimão, northeast of the city, on the Bom Retiro – Companheira site, occupying an area of about 23 hectares.
Next to the existing WWTP, the Municipality of Portimão made available an area of about 4 hectares for the construction of the Companheira's new WWTP.
The project should consider a time horizon of 21 years. The start-up year of this WWTP is the year 2016 and the project horizon year is the year 2037».
Updated at 18:28 pm, adding more information provided by Águas do Algarve
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