Today Portugal celebrates National Water Day!
It is an opportunity for a global reflection on the importance of water and the sustainable management of our water resources, pressured by climate change.
The Municipality of Baião is part of the “Sistema de Águas da Região do Noroeste”, of which the public company “Águas do Norte” is the managing entity.
It is a Public Partnership between the Portuguese State and eight municipalities in the region, covering an area of 1,654 km², corresponding to about 1.9% of the national territory and in which “Águas do Norte” assumed responsibility for exploration and management of low-level systems in the municipalities of Baião, Amarante, Arouca, Celorico de Basto, Cinfães, Fafe, Santo Tirso and Trofa.
Measures taken by the municipality to reduce water consumption:
In terms of raising awareness among the population, the Municipality of Baião promotes the actions provided for in the campaign called “Let’s Close the Tap to Dry”, through materials provided by “Águas do Norte”, by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, by the Portuguese Environment Agency and by “Águas de Portugal”, in order to reinforce the need to reduce water consumption through sustainable and thrifty use, which is imperative for everyone’s future.
As far as the Municipality of Baião is concerned, “Águas do Norte” has been implementing a strategic plan with a view to actively combating losses in water distribution networks, as a result of which a considerable reduction in the supply of water has been achieved.
Monitoring and control areas were created, where flow meters, sensors and data transmission systems were installed in order to be able to remotely monitor and supervise the water consumption that occurs in the distribution networks, in “low”. This change makes it possible to verify, in real time, the information regarding consumption in each of the respective networks and to activate, in a faster way, the means to look for water leaks and repair the faults that are detected. In this way, it is possible to considerably mitigate not only the damage to the water supply infrastructure, but also the waste caused by them.
“Águas do Norte” also has an ongoing contract aimed at replacing or installing pressure reducing valves in the Municipality of Baião. It should be noted, however, that this intervention is being carried out within the scope of the strategy of the active control plan for water losses, with a view to stabilizing pressures and reducing the occurrence of ruptures
The Municipality of Baião also reduced the irrigation cycles of public spaces, since normally 24 minutes of irrigation were carried out, divided into 3 cycles of 8 minutes each, while in this period the same 3 cycles are maintained, reduced to 4 minutes each. The water used is not from the public network, but from artesian wells and mines, owned by the municipality.
