Questioning the destination of Portugal’s sewage sludge, environmental group ZERO received the worrying confirmation from the Portuguese Environment Agency that half the country’s output is unaccounted for.
ZERO’s analysis of the date submitted by the Environment Agency led to the conclusion that, in the first half of 2018, about 50% of the sludge produced had not been sent to a legal destination.
This indicates that there is a situation of widespread illegality with accompanying environmental and public health risks caused by discharges of sewage sludge onto land and into the nation’s seas and rivers.
This is not a new situation as, over the last ten years, much of the Waste Water Treatment Plant’s output had no known destination. The concern has been that the environmental authorities have shown no ability or willingness to tackle this widespread illegality.
With the introduction of a new measuring and monitoring system on January 1st this year, it had been hoped that the management of this waste would be dealt with in accordance with the applicable laws.
In order to see what has been happening, ZERO requested the Environment Agency to send data on the input and output of domestic Waste Water Treatment Plants during the first half of 2018 and obtained the following results regarding the final destination of the sludge:
Sludge produced: 261 965 tonnes
Destination:
• Disposal (D): 1,193 tonnes
• Composting (R3): 128.088 tonnes
• Soil (R10): 1,047 tonnes
• No final destination identified: 131,231 tonnes
A detailed reading of the data showed that of the total of 261,965 tonnes produced, the Waste Management Operators received 147,703 tonnes of sludge that they sent to intermediate operations, such as storage facilities. However, only 16,472 tonnes of stored sludge was subsequently sent to a final destination.
The conclusion is that the destination of about 50% of the sewage sludge produced in mainland Portugal is not known.
ZERO has met the Environment Agency which was unable to offer any measures that could be taken to address this serious environmental problem.
ZERO says it now is easy for the Ministry of the Environment to identify, through the digital tracking of waste transport, which wastewater managers are failing in their legal obligations .
ZERO also has advised the Water and Waste Services Regulatory Authority (ERSAR) that most of the companies managing the country’s Waste Water Treatment Plants are being paid for the collection and treatment of sludge that is not being done legally.
In cash terms, there are a number of companies, regulated by ERSAR, that are being paid at least €5 million a year for a service that is not being carried out with ERSAR taking no action.
ZERO also has met with Águas de Portugal Group, a public holding company that controls several companies responsible for the majority of the country’s domestic Waste Water Treatment Plants. Águas de Portugal Group says it is concerned and that it already has met with the Environment Agency on this very subject, assuring ZERO that it would take action.
The management tools are all in place but all they have done is highlighted the payment of public money for services that have not been carried out.
If this situation is not resolved, ZERO, on behalf of Portugal’s citizens who are footing the bill, will have no alternative but to appeal to the Public Prosecution Service.
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