Leather walls: Government approves protection of groundwater capture

O ministry of the Environment approved the delimitation of the protection perimeter of a groundwater capture in the parish of Rubiães-Antas, Paredes de Coura, for human consumption, according to a ordinance published today in Diário da República (DR).

According to the publication, the delimitation of the protection perimeters, which comes into force on Tuesday, covers the capture called “Furo Antas”, of the pickup pole of Rubiães-Antas, in the district of Viana do Castelo.

The “mass of water where the captures are inserted, Maciço Antiga Indifferentiado da Basin of Lima, was classified under the Management Plan of the Hydrographic Region Minho e Lima, with Global State Bom”, says.

The capture supplies 257 inhabitants with an average volume of 63.99 cubic meters per day.

The protection perimeters aim to prevent, reduce and control groundwater pollution, including by infiltration of leaching rainwaters and surplus water for irrigation and washing.

These perimeters aim to “potentialize natural processes of dilution and self-cleaning of groundwater, prevent, reduce and control accidental discharges of pollutants and, finally, provide the creation of warning and warning systems for the protection of water supply systems from groundwater captures, in situations of accidental pollution of these waters”, reads.

According to the ordinance, the legal regime for the quality of water intended for human consumption attributed to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) the risk assessment of the drainage basins of water collection points for human consumption.

That legal regime includes “the georeference of the catchment points in the drainage basins (...) which can only be made known to the Water and Waste Services Regulatory Authority (ERSAR), health authorities, the Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE), criminal police bodies and public and private water supply management bodies served by the collection points”.

“ In this sense, the APA presented (...) a proposal to delimit the perimeter of protection and their respective conditionings of the two water captures, supported by the studies presented to it by Águas do Alto Minho, entity managing the captures ", is explained.

All groundwater captures intended for public supply of water for human consumption, as well as the delimitation of their protective perimeters, are subject to the rules laid down in the existing legislation as well as the Water Law.