Águas do Algarve inaugurated yesterday, Tuesday, its new Datacenter, which will allow the company to «go, practically, from the stone age to the modern era». On the way, a contract was signed for the improvement works of the Water Treatment Station (ETA) of Alcantarilha, which will increase the response capacity of this infrastructure.
Yesterday was «an exceptionally important day for Águas do Algarve», considered Joaquim Peres, president of the multi-municipal water supply and wastewater treatment company in the Algarve. After all, a data center equipped with the most modern technology was inaugurated, a fundamental tool these days, in which the collection, processing and storage of data assume a preponderant role.
«This new Datacenter allows for a better management of all the data that are part of the Águas do Algarve collection. On the other hand, its construction, with the disaster recovery existing at the Alcantarilha ETA, allows for great data reliability», explained Joaquim Peres.
The company's efficiency also improves, since, with the equipment that was formally inaugurated yesterday, remote management can be greatly improved, as "it already allows the necessary infrastructure to be installed for the installation of this type of systems". In the case of water supply management, it will allow “a modernization” of what already exists. With regard to sewage, it will be possible to remotely control what is happening in the different infrastructures that make up the network.
“This will allow you to do the same job with less weight for people. This does not mean that we can lighten the staff load. It means that people can go and do other more important things, such as research and development. It is not enough to have an infrastructure, it is necessary to know how to preserve it and manage it intelligently», considered the president of the company Águas do Algarve.
The data center and the many servers that comprise it were installed in a WWTP building Faro Northwest, which was readapted to accommodate it. The investment of around 500 thousand euros also served to create new spaces for the company's services, which gained modern facilities.
The congestion of Águas do Algarve facilities in Vila-Adentro de Faro, where the Datacenter was previously installed, was what led Carlos Martins, then president of Águas do Algarve and now Secretary of State for the Environment, to launch the renovation work of a building that already existed in the WWTP located next to the Airport of Faro.
«It is with great happiness that a person sees dreams come true. In fact, at the time, there was an availability here in this facility, which was not being used, while, at the headquarters, workers in some areas had little quality of work, due to the scarcity of space», said Carlos Martins, who was there yesterday in Faro, to mark the inauguration of the new Datacenter and the building that houses it.
“One of the critical areas was the issue of information, since today, whether for security reasons or for reasons of management flexibility, it has become fundamental. Nowadays, no one understands the management of such complex infrastructures by exclusively manual means”, illustrated the member of Government.
Carlos Martins added that "it is good to see that the works have been completed and that we have here one of the most modern Datacenters in the entire universe of Águas de Portugal".
Once this work is completed, Águas do Algarve is already thinking about the future and signed yesterday, at the same ceremony, the contract for the improvement of the Alcantarilha ETA.
“It will be an investment of 5 million euros. The aim is to increase the water treatment capacity. In summer, we have the need for a higher flow rate and, sometimes, the need to add the aluminum sulphate reagent, so that the water can be treated properly, it did not always allow this compound to be completely removed, which took rejection of some lots», explained Joaquim Peres.
With the work that will be done, «we will be able to treat a greater amount of water, in less time. In a region that triples its population in summer, these treatment solutions are needed».
Once the contract is signed, the work will be "consigned very soon". From that moment on, it will take about a year to complete.
This means that, in the next summer period, the intervention will be ongoing, so it will be necessary to combine the works with the infrastructure. Admitting that this will “demand a lot” from the technicians and the contractor, Joaquim Peres believes there will be the capacity to ensure that water treatment at peak times will not be compromised.
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