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The Bloco de Esquerda (BE) questioned the Government about “successive polluting discharges” in Ribeira de Anha, in the parish Vila Nova de Anha, classified as a natural monument by the Viana do Castelo Chamber.

In a question addressed to the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Matos Fernandes, today sent to Lusa, deputy Maria Manuel Rola wants to know “if the Government is aware of the recurrent discharges to the river”, denounced by the population that says that “the fish have died and that the river has no life ”.

“The Vila Nova de Anha Parish Council itself admits to being an old and serious problem”, says the BE deputy who recalls that that river, “classified as a natural monument by the municipality of Viana do Castelo, preserves the rest of a beach of pebbles from the last interglacial, with an absolute age close to 125 thousand years ”.

“This register is, until now, the only one of its kind on the Alto Minho coast”, underlines the deputy.

In a question addressed to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Action, Maria Manuel Rola, adds that “this natural monument also records testimonies of the coastal platforms of the last interglacial, which are in this location about one meter below the counterparts north of the Lima River and in result of a geological fault with recent activity (vertical movement of 0.008 mm / year) and on which the river Lima was installed ”.

“Coastal geoforms such as frogs and lunchboxes, from the penultimate interglacier (absolute age of approximately 245 thousand years) and pre-Roman salt marshes also occur in this natural monument”, he reinforces.

For BE, this is “an unacceptable situation that has lasted for too long and seems to have no end in sight”.

“The populations are, and rightly so, increasingly indignant at the frequency and magnitude of these environmental attacks, without there appearing to be effective action by the authorities, the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), the Northern Hydrographic Region Administration (ARHN ) and the municipalities, mainly of the Viana do Castelo City Council, municipality of the section of the river where these discharges have been verified, without effective action so that these environmental attacks are not repeated and, consequently, without the authors being duly responsible ”, reads in the document.

The BE deputy wants to know the results of the inspections carried out on the river and what measures the Government will take to solve the problem.

Contacted by Lusa, the councilor for the Environment of the Viana do Castelo Chamber, Ricardo Carvalhido, said that the municipality “has embarked on and has underway all the efforts it can make to identify the emissaries, namely inspection and physical-chemical tests, in articulation with the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and Águas do Alto Minho (AdAM).

Ricardo Carvalhido admitted that the municipality “has been confronted, in recent months, with episodes of effluent discharges of unknown origin, but with polluting characteristics, in two of its most important streams – that of Anha, in Vila Nova de Anha and that of São Vicente, in Meadela ”.

“These streams are fundamental biophysical elements and are structuring of the wet area of ​​Caldeiras de D. Prior (where the Ecological Urban Park is developed), and of the Natural Monument of Ribeira de Anha, areas that make up the Municipal Science Network in the dimensions of conservation nature and the promotion of education and literacy ”, he emphasized, referring to“ the vital importance of these streams for the various development agendas underway ”.

Questioned by Lusa, the company Águas do Norte reported that “the discharges verified in the Anha river, were not caused by any infrastructure that is being managed by the concessionaire of the multi-municipal water supply and sanitation system in Northern Portugal”.

“After the technical assessment carried out on the spot, it was proven that the events in question were caused by clandestine discharges, so Águas do Norte is completely oblivious to it”, reinforces the company.

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