«Portugal continues to have serious difficulties in controlling and punishing those responsible for attacks on the environment and water resources», since «about 80% of the news reports raised by the Portuguese Environment Agency for environmental infringements had no consequences». The complaint is made by Quercus, marking the National Water Day, which is celebrated today, 1st of October.
This is the first day of the hydrological year and on this day, in Portugal, a new water cycle begins, recalls the environmental association.
In particular, this year, Quercus considers that «a reflection should be made on hydrological resources and their management at national level, since the country is experiencing a drought in 100% of the continental territory, with around 60 % in a state of severe drought'.
In fact, 'most of our rivers have very low or zero flows, which, combined with a deficient situation in the treatment of waste water, aggravate the ecological status of water bodies, jeopardizing compliance with the Water Framework Directive, which imposes the 2027 limit for Portugal to reach the good ecological status of all water bodies».
Quercus recalls that about 70% of the water placed in the network for supply comes from superficial sources, «there is a high regional and temporal asymmetry in the availability of water and a growing pressure of uses on water bodies, which combined with the occurrence of periods prolonged drought reinforce the need to look for more environmentally suitable alternatives'.
The association also denounces that “only about 40% of the existing treatment plants have a valid discharge license and even these may not be complying with the discharge parameters, since the only values available to assess their effectiveness are the resulting ones. of the user's self-control'. Therefore, the competent authorities do not have “an effective sampling plan that can effectively guarantee its efficiency”.
Water management has impacts on various sectors, from health to food, with agriculture and industry being the main polluting activities.
Quercus recalls that "it is the responsibility of everyone in general, and of the State in particular, to preserve this fundamental resource to life", and in that sense, calls on national citizens, and their associates in particular, "to denounce all aggressions to the environment. that come to his knowledge”.
The environmental association recalls that "only about 1,5% of the wastewater treated in treatment plants is reused, with the remainder being discharged into our rivers, and, in most cases, will be recaptured for the public supply circuit" .
According to the 2016 Inspection Report, published by the Portuguese Environment Agency, 1204 notices were raised for environmental infractions in the areas of its jurisdiction, a large part in the area of water resources, of which only 251 were subject to administrative offense proceedings, corresponding to 20,8% of the records collected.
The Report, denounces Quercus, "says nothing about the others about 80% who were not followed up, nor the outcome of those who were instructed from the counter-ordination processes."
Therefore, the association considers this situation "unsustainable", since the immediate reading is that "80% of the polluters detected were not even confronted with the acts they practiced and of the 20% who had administrative offense proceedings, it is unknown which was the fine imposed'.
For environmentalists, this situation is "serious", requiring "explanations", as they consider that "either there is a problem with the training of supervisory agents or the administration does not have the human capacity to instruct the processes against ordinance".
Quercus states, however, that it has no doubts that, «with this situation, we are all the losers, and this fact may have been one of the causes of the country not having met the targets for the good ecological status of water bodies imposed by the Water Framework Directive'.
Faced with these situations, Qercus, on this National Water Day, calls on the competent authorities to “effectively monitor the water domain and have a heavy hand with polluters, in order to deter potential polluters and ensure the future and sustainability of national water resources ».
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