Eastern Algarve improvements to sewage, water and beaches

The Vila Real de Santo António area now has a water and sewage system to be proud of after a €61 million spend.

One of the main benefits is that there is no further need to dump sewage directly into the Guadiana - while pretending it wasn't happening.

The council's water plan has taken ten years to complete and today the Secretary of State for Environment, Paulo Lemos braved a visit to the Algarve to have a pre-election wander with his entourage.

The work is not quite complete but wuth the general election coming up, the raw sewage issue was not seen as a local vote winner.

The other reason to complete the work on time is the huge fines payable by the council to the European Union if there are further delays.

These environmental fines used to be payable by the government but in a cunning move the responsibility now is held locally and the council must stump up the money.

It has gone wel though as there now are four new reservoirs, new wells, kilometres of new water pipes, 17 pumping stations and sewage systems with most outlying villages now connected to the mains.

In Phase II of the project, Vila Real de Santo António, Monte Gordo and Vila Nova de Cacela received, "34 kilometres of new sewage pipes and 33 kilometers of new water pipes,” at a cost of €30 million.

The council got help from EU funds which covered 40% of the total cost.
 
Current mayor Luís Gomes said today that "this was not a cosmetic job, this was a thorough intervention which prepares VRSA for the future."

Gomes recalled that when he took over as mayor the situation was quite different, "rainwater and sewage ran through the same network. That's why sometimes there was a stench of sewage and some sewers ran into the Guadiana. In some places, there were septic tanks near to beaches."

Further to the west at Olhão’s Praia dos Cavacos on the Ria Formosa, Polis has opened a new tourist area where visitors can park and use boardwalks down to the water.

The Polis Litoral Ria Formosa Society, much maligned for its recent callous treatment of the Ria Formosa islanders whose properties were due for demolition, has created a ‘support infrastructure for beach users’ at the beach in the Marim area.

Polis stresses that this intervention will allow "adequate use of this riverside section of the Ria Formosa, while safeguarding natural values that were at risk."

This means that there are 60 parking spaces so people don’t park all over the sand and plants, and a large boardwalk with lighting, street furniture and educational and interpretive signage.

The whole lot cost €235,000 before VAT and is perhaps the sort of thing that Polis should have been doing for the last ten years.

However, the influential local blog Olhão Livre says the work has destroyed a part of the protected vegetation despite the project claiming safeguard ‘at risk’ natural habitat and that the area that now is car park normally floods at high tide under certain conditions.

Part of the carpark base already has been washed away due the lack of local knowledge displayed by Polis Ria Formosa which prides itself in its management of the Ria Formosa area but which seems to make mistake after mistake. (see picture below)

Olhão Livre states also that the area normally is subject to shellfishing bans due to high levels of pollution due to sewage being discharges from frequent pumping station breakdowns. This may not be such a good place to encourage bathing especially when at low tide the water can only be reached after squelching through ankle deep mud.

The blog raises concerns that the mudflats, good for shellfishing nurseries, may have sand dumped on top in order to make a more tourist-friendly beach environment for Marim with shellfishing unable to continue in this area.

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