The company Águas de Norte reported today that there was no “any anomaly” at the Serzedo Wastewater Treatment Station (WWTP), in Guimarães, equipment that the Câmara de Vizela recently identified as the alleged polluting focus of the Vizela River.
“There is neither, nor has there been, any anomaly in the normal operation of the Serzedo WWTP. It is a national reference facility, with a treatment scheme that uses the latest technologies and that has a high performance ”, reads a statement sent to the Lusa agency.
According to that publicly traded company, “the treated and discharged water in the receiving environment fully and permanently complies with the Title of Use of Water Resources issued by the Portuguese Environment Agency”.
On the 18th of July, Câmara de Vizela announced that there had been a polluting discharge on that tributary of the Ave river that runs through the city, allegedly from the Serzedo WWTP, managed by the publicly owned company Águas do Norte.
In a statement sent to Lusa, that municipality in the district of Braga announced that it would promote a “new criminal complaint against Águas do Norte for the crime of pollution”, which will contain photographs and videos of the occurrence and collections of water carried out by a laboratory contracted by the County.
In today’s communiqué from Águas do Norte, the company states that “the situation that recently became public regarding the situation of the Vizela River is mainly due to the characteristics of the waste water that is treated in this WWTP”.
The fact that the Vizela River “currently has a very low flow” prevents, according to the company, “a better dilution of the treated effluent in the receiving environment in order to avoid water coloring”.
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