Living Matosinhos requires transparency and goals for depollution of Leça

A association Viver Matosinhos claimed today “transparency and auditable goals” for the process of depollution of the Rio Leça, pointing to the modernization “urgent of obsolete ETARs” and the end of illegal discharges.

“ The association underlines that the effective recovery of the river Leça involves the urgent modernization of obsolete Wastewater Treatment Stations (ETAR) – whose fundamental interventions were successively delayed – and a firm and uncompromising action in the fight against illegal discharges that continue to affect the watercourse ", can be read in the note sent to the essays today.

For the river, Viver Matosinhos argues that “the search for scapegoats” and the focus of public action is “in solving real problems and in publishing a calendar of public interventions and auditable actions”.

In a statement signed by the President of the Advisory Council, Humberto Silva, the association notes that the management of that watercourse has revealed “a policy that favours image and communication to the detriment of the substance”.

“ In 2022, Leça was promised to de-pollution by the end of 2023, with an announced investment of four million euros, selling the Green Corridor as the first step in this process. Three years later, the jury said the obvious: an intervention of this nature cannot have quality if it is inserted in a severely polluted environment ", defended Humberto Silva, quoted in a statement.

The association thus reacts to the exclusion of the Green Leça Corridor from the finalists to the European Urban Public Space Award, awarded by the Centre for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona (CCCB).

On Saturday, the Public reported the exclusion of Laura Roldão's project for Leça, after the jury received warnings about the pollution of the river, a decision that the intermunicipal association contests, requesting a reassessment.

Living Matosinhos “deeply regrets the reaction” of the president of the association of municipalities of Corridor Verde, Luísa Salgueiro, also president of Matosinhos, who criticized the warnings sent by “populist political movements” to the jury.

The Corridor Verde do Leça links four municipalities (Valongo, Maia, Matosinhos and Santo Tirso) along 48 kilometers of watercourse, adding public space on the banks.