In Mangualde and Nelas, treatment plants become water production stations

Daily

Interest in the reuse of treated wastewater has been increasing, not only due to scarcity, but also as a result of an awareness of the value of water as a basic necessity.

The inauguration of the ETAR (Waste Water Treatment Station) in Cubos, in Mangualde, is coming soon, which will allow a water treatment and purification process that, at the end of the cycle, will have an excellent quality to be reused for agricultural and industrial. This is an infrastructure with cutting-edge technology, an investment of around two million euros, and which the mayor of Mangualde hopes to “recover” in two years.

“We want Mangualde to be a reference for good practices in water circularity and today we are certain that investments like these make our territories more attractive and competitive while contributing to the country’s water efficiency. We don’t have a WWTP, we have a Water Production Station”, highlights Marco Almeida, announcing that there are already talks with an industrial operator.

What is being treated is sewage water, reinforces the Mayor who highlights that the WWTP is a piece of equipment that, in terms of modernity, is among “the two or three best in the country”.

“We want to reuse around 50 percent of the water for industrial purposes within two years. With this WWTP and the other one that we are going to adapt with the same system, that will be our objective”, he assumes.

In order to avoid the threat to public health and the environment, the wastewater treatment technology using membrane biological reactors (MBR) used in these new WWTPs ensures the high quality of the final effluent, with the removal of organic load and nutrients.

In Portugal, interest in the reuse of treated wastewater has been increasing, not only due to the scarcity of good quality water for public consumption (drought periods), but also as a result of an awareness of the value of water as a basic necessity. . An awareness also in the search for sustainable solutions on the part of political and local authorities. Nowadays, the option of reusing treated effluents is increasingly justifiable.

Also in Nelas, the reuse of water for industrial purposes will soon be a reality. The municipality will move forward with the ApR – Water for Reuse project, which has as its main objective the use of wastewater for industrial purposes.

The project, which will allow the reuse of treated wastewater from the Nelas III WWTP, consists of a Water Treatment Station (ETA), which stores and pumps through two lifting pipelines – one for the North Industrial Zone and the other for the South Industrial Zone – and respective delivery points (two), thus enabling integrated management of water resources. The ETA will be built on the premises of the Nelas III ETAR.

According to the municipality, the ApR ETA will be complementary to the Nelas IIII ETAR, which has the capacity to treat wastewater produced in the central area of ​​Nelas, as well as wastewater from the north, Nelas I, Folhadal and south basins, by pumping. This project was developed over a 40-year horizon.

The municipality of Nelas has an average daily consumption of 4,000m3, with ApR 1,800m3 of wastewater will be treated, half of what is spent on human consumption. The total investment was 3.3 million euros, with contributions from structural cohesion funds and municipal financing.

“Water is a very valuable, scarce commodity, essential to life and the human condition. In the current context, at a global level, where we are struggling with the scarcity of this essential asset, it is absolutely essential that we are able to find solutions for its use in a parsimonious, balanced and sustainable way”, highlighted the president of the Nelas City Council, Joaquim Amaral.

For the mayor, “the reuse of wastewater is a fundamental path to follow in the sustainability of the urban water cycle. Regarding its reuse, and by doing so removing pressure on the availability of water for human consumption; in ensuring conditions for the functioning of the business fabric, vital for the settlement of the population and for local, I would say national, economies, also in contributing to territorial cohesion; without forgetting the decisive contribution to the environment by avoiding the overload of water resources.”, he highlighted.

Joaquim Amaral also argues that this project should be of national interest. “The ApR – Water for Reuse – of Nelas should be considered a project of national interest, not only for all the very relevant reasons I have given, but also because its implementation can serve as an example to be followed on a national scale, now that we have a new community framework starting and running the PRR [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência]”, he highlighted.

In addition to industry, the municipality intends for the water to be used in civil protection, as a water supply point for firefighters to fight fires or for cleaning, washing and watering public spaces; as well as extending this use to the local economy, in particular in agriculture, namely in the vineyard and wine sector and in pastoralism.