Ensuring safety, when it comes to water supply, goes far beyond providing a good that is fit for consumption.
In addition to the public health component, it must be borne in mind that the service is provided “without interruptions, with pressure and quality”.
And that is what Infraquinta intends, with the Water Safety Plan that it launched and was presented last Friday.
The Loulé municipal company is the first water supply management entity in downtown Portugal to launch a plan of this nature.
For this, it carried out an in-depth analysis of its distribution system, identified risks and weaknesses and improved or created a set of procedures so that the water it delivers to its customers has quality, at all levels.
«We started thinking about this plan in 2008, we started its development in 2011 and, now, we are proceeding with its implementation», said Ana Vicente, who coordinated the elaboration of the plan.
In this first phase, the plan is essentially focusing on the internal organization. "We have already implemented procedures, care to be taken, as well as changing our routines," he added.
Determining measures, since the first line of “defence” are the workers of Infraquinta, the company that manages the water distribution in the Quinta do Lago development and in other places in this highly touristic area of Loulé.
“Giving operators training is very important. We can do an excellent job at the desk, but if we don't get to the workers, it's better to put it in the drawer», illustrated Horácio Guerreiro, a technician from Infraquinta involved in drawing up the plan.
In the future, investments to improve the network are in the pipeline, which could reach "2,5 million euros" over the next five years, according to Infraquinta director Victor Faria.
Ana Vicente: "The high standards of customer demand were one of the main incentives" to move forward with the Plan
This investment will be used to renovate parts of the 64-kilometer network that is managed by Infraquinta. “This network is, in some cases, 30 years old. (…) We are going to put in new materials, which have been approved and which may be in contact with water, as there are still some fiber cement pipelines, which are not recommended», illustrated Ana Vicente.
The idea is to avoid contamination, since, admits Victor Faria, the water supplied, in high, by Águas do Algarve, is of «excellent quality». The ultimate goal is that it arrives at the end customer's counter entrance unaltered.
“It didn't make sense to be receiving certified water [from Águas do Algarve] and then, downstream, questioning the quality of that water”, illustrated the head of the Loulé municipal company.
The guarantee that the water that comes out of the tap of the final consumer is the same that enters the meter, does not depend on Infraquinta. But that is not why the issue is outside the Security Plan.
“The problem of building contamination is the most difficult to solve. Therefore, we are going to launch an awareness campaign to raise awareness of this issue, namely the cross-supply, which combines water from the network with that from boreholes», he illustrated.
As Quinta do Lago is an internationally renowned luxury tourist development, this plan will also serve to increase customer confidence in the water provided to them. As Ana Vicente confesses, «the high standards of customer demand were one of the main incentives» to move forward with this Safety Plan.
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