The recovery of a large tank in the Agra Etar, in the waters of the River Ave, and its transformation into a "Fito Etar" - that is, a kind of floating island in cork where plants grow and absorb a very large amount of polluting nutrients as they develop, allowing the reuse of waste water in agriculture - is one of the most innovative actions of the project "Life Pateiras - Natural Adapt 4 Rural Areas", which has just been approved by the European Union's LIFE programme, dedicated to the Environment and Climate Action.
The application submitted by the City council of Famalicão in partnership with Águas do Norte was one of about 15 European projects approved for climate change. With an eligible cost of 1.8 million euros, the project saw approved support in the order of 1 million euros, aimed at developing and testing locally based solutions for the minimisation of climate change, targeting the territory of the Local Protected Landscape of Pateiras do Ave, located in the parish of Fradelos and extending to the neighbouring parishes of Ribeirão and Vilarinho das Cambas. The project will be implemented between January 1st, 2021 and December 31st, 2025.
The creation of a Fito Etar is, moreover, the great innovation of the application, being a pilot project, unique in its dimension to be implemented in Portugal. According to those responsible for the project "through this system it will be possible to treat about 5% or 6% of the effluent from the Agra Etar, which is one of the largest of its kind in the country, without the use of any type of energy or chemicals, in a totally natural way, through the right plants and bacteria in the tank, which will purify the water, which will allow its use for irrigation".
The innovative nature of the measure is reflected in the investment, with this action representing about 45% of the project budget.
Besides the creation of a Fito Etar, the project presented by the municipality of Famalicão stands out for its solutions based on the ecosystem, that is, on the replication and utilization of the "services" that nature naturally provides.
Thus, another of the actions planned is the recovery of natural habitats that have the capacity to retain water and infiltrate it into the groundwater, thus avoiding the effect of upstream floods and increasing the amount of water in the groundwater for use during the summer in periods of drought. This action essentially concerns the recovery of two ecosystems, one in the Ribeira de Fradelos and the other in the Charcas / Pateiras.
Also noteworthy is the water management action that provides for the recovery of traditional irrigation systems, namely levadas, puddles and tanks that formerly held water at high points and then distributed it in the summer, without energy costs. "These systems that have been abandoned had not only the function of watering, but of water management itself, avoiding flooding and allowing, for example, firefighters to supply themselves with water to fight fires," as one of the project leaders explains. This action then consists in the practice of recovering a traditional system that is abandoned and creating a new one on the scale of today, but with traditional technology and logic.
For the Mayor of Famalicão, Paulo Cunha, the approval of this candidacy "is excellent news for the City council, which thus supports its ambition to contribute to a more sustainable and friendly future of the planet". "One of our main political concerns is to protect the environment and reduce the ecological footprint, safeguarding the planet for the new generations and this is precisely where this new project is inserted. Biodiversity and ecosystems can help us mitigate the effects of change, and that is where we want to come up with some innovative actions to be implemented in our territory, working with nature has multiple advantages also in terms of climate preservation" explains the mayor.
With the implementation of these actions, the project is expected to contribute to the climate objectives, namely regarding better environmental and climate performance by reducing waste, greater resilience to flooding, improved wastewater quality for economic and human re-use.
It should be noted that in drought-prone regions such as Portugal, climate change affects water management and its impact on the quality of life of societies and economic activities. The City council of Famalicão and Águas do Norte have responsibilities within public water management in the Ribeira de Fradelos Basin, which is the project area.