Sines calls for government support for sanitation and environmental liability resolution

A Câmara de Sines asked the government for support for investments in water and sanitation systems and called for the resolution of Sanchinha's environmental liabilities, at the border of Santiago do Cacém.

The concerns were transmitted by the mayor of Sines, in the district of Setúbal, Álvaro Beijinha, to the Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, at a meeting requested by the municipality.

In statements to the Lusa agency, the mayor recalled that the growth of investments in Sines is “increasing pressure” on existing infrastructure, so it is necessary to “allocate public resources” for interventions in supply and sanitation systems.

“ We need public investment to solve a set of problems, whether in high systems or in low systems”, claimed Álvaro Beijinha.

In his view, “the country must be supportive of Sines”, who faces “several problems”.

And the council, he added, needs “to have sources of funding, even if it is the chamber doing the works, to make these investments”.

Among the solutions pointed out by the mayor, is the possible construction of a Wastewater Treatment Station (ETAR) for the city of Sines, a solution that had already been fixed by the former executive, but that did not advance by “lack of funding”.

According to Álvaro Beijinha, a new ETAR would reduce the current 17 city lift stations, which “consume many financial resources”.

However, he estimated that a new sewage treatment plant adapted “to the size and possibility of growth” of the city could represent an investment close to “of EUR 10 million”, as well as implying the reformulation of the whole system.

Another central theme of the meeting was the environmental liability of Aterro da Sanchinha, located in the parish of Santo André, in the neighboring municipality of Santiago do Cacém, but “at the border with Sines and close to water pickups”.

According to Álvaro Beijinha, the area was used, in the 1980s of the last century, for the disposal of industrial waste, and a protocol was concluded between several public entities in 2019, “to characterize the problem [and] find solutions”.

“ Nothing has been done over these seven years since that protocol was signed. And so we went to make the minister aware of this problem and the need for its resolution”, he argued.

To date, “it is not known what the size of the liability is,” Álvaro Beijinha said, adding that it has been made “permanent monitoring [to] soil quality” and that, according to the information available, there will be no “for now” evidence of contamination.