Companheira's new WWTP is now up and running [with photos]

A Companheira's new Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), in Portimão, inaugurated today by the Minister of the Environment, is already in operation, but it will still take a few days to get into cruising speed…and to put an end to the bad smells.

The work, which replaces the WWTP with a lagoon in operation since 1982, represents an investment of 13,8 million euros, and is sized to treat an average flow of about 32 thousand cubic meters of effluent per day, serving a population close to 140 thousand equivalent inhabitants, in the municipalities of Portimão, Silves and Monchique.

This WWTP, stressed the Minister of Environment, is prepared to respond «to the greatest demands, in terms of environmental quality, made either by those who live in the region or by those who visit us».

Therefore, noted Isilda Gomes, mayor of Portimão, “this is a very happy day for Portimão, for the Environment and for the quality of life of people”. “We have a river with more and more quality and less and less polluted, in such a way that, in a few years, we will almost be able to drink the water from the Arade”, stressed the mayor.

Joaquim Peres, president of Águas do Algarve, for his part, underlined his satisfaction for having been «possible to fulfill all this task, within the contracted deadline», which, he assured, «was not easy».

«A work like this, built in these karst massifs, revealed some surprises», recalled Joaquim Peres, like the cave with remains of Neanderthal Man, from around 40 years ago, or, in his words, «the geospace previously occupied by other people», who left «archaeological remains».

The new WWTP, however, was “careful to let these marks remain”, since everything is “preserved”, and conditions were even created for these “geostructures to be visited and studied”.

João Nuno Mendes, president of the Águas de Portugal Group, stressed that the two new WWTPs in the Algarve – Companheira, inaugurated today, and that of Faro/Olhão, under construction – are "in the top 3 of current investments" of their group, across the country.

When both are in operation, «these two WWTPs represent a fifth of the entire sanitation system in the Algarve», said the official.

A Companion's new WWTP it is part of the sanitation subsystem with the same name, in the municipality of Portimão, which includes around 53 kilometers of interceptors and outfalls, including nearly 10 kilometers of interceptor tunnels and 24 pumping stations.

Nearing completion, there are still, in this municipality, around 20 kilometers of interceptors, as well as three other pumping stations.

The new WWTP project, co-financed by community funds under the Program for Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources (POSEUR), also includes the environmental requalification of the intervention area, namely the framing and landscape restoration of approximately 38 thousand square meters of land for implementation of the WWTP – land guaranteed by the Municipality of Portimão – including buildings, equipment, streets and green areas.

Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação