Water supply and sanitation in Portugal

Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... : Water and Sanitation

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|-
! style="text-align:center; background:lightblue;" colspan="3"|Data
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Water coverage (broad definition)
|valign="top"| 95%
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Sanitation coverage (broad definition)
|valign="top"| 76%
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Continuity of supply (%)
|valign="top"| high
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Average urban water use (l/c/d)
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Average urban water and sewer tariff (euro/m3)
|valign="top"| about 0.90
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of household metering
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of collected wastewater treated
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Annual investment in WSS
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of self-financing by utilities
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of tax-financing
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of external financing
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:center; background:lightblue;" colspan="3"|Institutions
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Decentralization to municipalities
|valign="top"| Partial
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|National water and sanitation company
|valign="top"| Yes (AdP)
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Water and sanitation regulator
|valign="top"| Yes (ERSAR)
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Responsibility for policy setting
|valign="top"| Ministry of Environment
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Sector law
|valign="top"| No
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Number of urban service providers
|valign="top"| 13 regional companies as part of AdP and 116 municipalities
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Number of rural service providers
|valign="top"| n/a
|}
The Water supply and sanitation services in Portugal have seen important advances in access to services, technologies used and service quality over the past decades (1980s–1990s), partially achieved thanks to important funds from the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

. Nevertheless, sanitation still remains relatively low in mountain rural areas and some people have their own sources of water controlled by municipalities.

During the 1990s Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

has put in place a modern institutional framework for the sector, which includes a national regulatory agency (ERSAR - The Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority) and multi-municipal water and sanitation companies.

Access

In Portugal 93% of households have access to drinking water through house connections (97% in urban areas, but only 50% in rural areas)
76% of households have access to sewer connections.

Drinking water

Water supply is continuous, except during droughts.

Drinking water quality is not consistently good, especially in smaller systems. Portugal does not comply with a series of drinking water parameters (iron, manganese, total coliforms, faecal coliforms, faecal streptococci and clostridium

Clostridium

Clostridium is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria, belonging to the Firmicutes. They are obligate anaerobes capable of producing endospores. Individual cells are rod-shaped, which gives them their name, from the Greek kloster or spindle...

) laid down in the EU drinking water directive. For example, almost 50% of water supply zones do not comply as regards total coliforms, while 20% of the zones do not comply with the faecal coliforms parameter.

Wastewater

Portugal does not yet fully comply with EU regulations on wastewater discharges. Even where wastewater treatment plants

Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...

exist they do not always function properly. Especially in cities with combined sewers, treatment plants do not function properly after heavy rains. Sewer overflows during heavy rains are frequent, partly due to unauthorized storm water drain connections to the sewer system.

For example, in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, the waste water treatment plant of Alcântara was not operational in 2007. In Matosinhos

Matosinhos

Matosinhos Municipality is located in Porto District, Portugal. The main city is Matosinhos. It is bordered to the south by the city of Porto and lies within the Greater Porto subregion. The municipality has a population of 168,451 in 10 parishes. Many people have recently moved from the...

in the region of Porto

Porto

Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...

, only primary (basic) treatment is in place. In Costa de Aveiro (Aveiro

Aveiro

Aveiro is a city in Aveiro Municipality in Portugal, with a total area of 199.9 km², a total population of 73,559 inhabitants, and 59,860 electors . It is the second most populous city in the Centro Region of Portugal, after Coimbra...

), 60% of the polluting load generated is not collected and 65% is not treated. In Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim is a Portuguese city in the Norte Region and sub-region of Greater Porto, with a 2011 estimated population of 63,364. According to the 2001 census, there were 63,470 inhabitants with 42,396 living in the city proper. The urban area expanded, southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there...

/Vila do Conde, 60% of the load is not collected and the level of treatment in place is unknown.

In some beaches bathing is restricted because of pollution.

Policy and regulation

The Ministry of Environment and Regional Development is in charge of sector policies. As in many other countries, water and sanitation is not a political priority. Political actions at the local level are often oriented at the short-term, following electoral cycles, with limited long-term planning. Nevertheless, there has been remarkable stability of the national policy framework independent of electoral cycles.

In 1997 Portugal created a national regulatory agency, the Water and Sanitation Regulatory Agency Entidade Reguladora de Águas e Resíduos (ERSAR) in charge of water supply, sanitation and solid waste management. Its attributions include the economic regulation of service providers, as well as the regulation of their service quality, including water quality. The regulatory agency is directed by a three-member Board, whose members are appointed upon the recommendation of the Minister of Environment.

Water resources management is the responsibility of the Water Institute INAG, crated in 1993 under the Ministry of Environment and Regional Development. INAG operates, among others, on the basis of the 2005 Water Law, which transposes the EU water framework directive into national law. Portugal has drawn up a National Water Plan and 15 River Basin Plans.

Service provision

Provision of water and sanitation services in Portugal is a shared responsibility between the 308 municipalities and the national, public holding company Águas de Portugal

Águas de Portugal

Águas de Portugal group is a Portuguese state-owned company that operates in the environmental sector, in water supply, wastewater sanitation and treatment and recovery of waste. Its services include collection, treatment and disposal of urban and industrial wastewater, including its recycling and...

(AdP) and its subsidiaries. About 73% of the population in 243 municipalities receives water directly from municipalities (3.5 million people) or single-municipality companies established under public law (2.5 million people). 27% of the population receives water directly from companies established under private law, including 1.7 million from multi-municipal companies majority-owned by Águas de Portugal

Águas de Portugal

and 0.9 million from other municipal companies established under private law. Many municipalities do not control their sources of bulk water supply. Companies established under private law, in particular multi-municipal companies co-owned by Águas de Portugal

Águas de Portugal

, thus sell water to municipalities, providing water indirectly in bulk to 53% of the population. In addition, as mentioned above, companies established under private law provide water directly to 27% of the population. Thus, a total of about 80% of the population receives water directly or indirectly multi-municipal companies established under private law.

Independently of whether utilities are established under public or private law, all infrastructure is publicly owned. There is only limited private sector participation in the provision of water and sanitation services. Storm water drainage is directly provided by the municipalities.

Municipalities

According to the local government law (Lei das autarquias locais) the country’s 308 municipalities

Municipalities of Portugal

In Portugal, municipality or concelho is the most stable subdivision of Portugal since the foundation of the country.Portugal has an entirely separate system of cities and towns. Cities and towns are located in municipalities, but often do not have the same boundaries, even if built-up is continuous...

are responsible for providing water supply and sanitation services, either directly or indirectly through concessions. Decree-law 379/93 of 1993 establishes the legal basis for concessions to municipal and multi-municipal water and sanitation companies established under private law (typically publicly owned shareholder companies that are part of AdP). As mentioned above, these have come into widespread use in Portugal ever since.

Águas de Portugal

Águas de Portugal is a public holding company with the following business units, ranked by order of their contribution to sales:

a unit in charge of bulk water production and wastewater treatment (Água - Produção e Depuração - UNA-PD);
a unit in charge of water supply in the Greater Lisbon area (Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres - EPAL);
a solid waste management unit (UN - Resíduos);
a (relatively small) unit charge of drinking water distribution and wastewater collection (Água - Distribuição e Recolha - UNA-DR);
an international unit with activities in Brazil
Water supply and sanitation in Brazil
Water supply and sanitation in Brazil is characterized by both achievements and challenges. Among the achievements is an increase in access to piped water supply from 66% to 77% between 1990 and 2006; an increase in access to improved sanitation from 71% to 77% in the same period; a functioning...

, Mozambique
Water supply and sanitation in Mozambique
Water supply and sanitation in Mozambique is characterized by low levels of access to an improved water source , low levels of access to adequate sanitation and mostly poor service quality...

and East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

(UN Internacional).

AdP is a public company that itself is owned by the government directly (34%) and indirectly through the asset holding company Parpública

Parpública

Parpública, officially Participações Públicas S.A., operates as a state-run management holding company of the Portuguese Republic. The company is based in Lisbon, Portugal. Among its major assets are TAP Portugal, ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, Águas de Portugal, Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda,...

(49%), as well as by a public Bank (Caixa Geral de Depósitos

Caixa Geral de Depósitos

Caixa Geral de Depósitos is a Portuguese state-owned banking corporation and the largest bank in Portugal.- History :*1876 — Caixa Geral de Depósitos was founded under the aegis of the Junta de Crédito Público....

, 20%).

The two first units are described in further detail below.

Multi-municipal water and sewer companies AdP's first business unit (UNAPD) includes 18 multi-municipal water and/or sewer companies co-owned by AdP, which hold concessions contracts with municipalities. AdP majority-owns all these companies (owning 51% or more), with the remainder being owned by participating municipalities (owning up to 49%). Out of the 18 companies 11 provide both water and sanitation services, 5 only sanitation services and 2 only water services. If a multi-municipal company does not provide both services, the other service is provided by the municipality.

For example, in the country's two largest cities, Lisbon

Lisbon

and Porto

Porto

, water is provided by a multi-municipal company, but sanitation services are provided directly by the municipality. In some municipalities water services are provided by one multi-municipal company, while sanitation services are provided by another.

The multi-municipal bulk water and bulk sewer/wastewater treatment companies are:

Águas do Algarve
Águas do Ave
Águas do Centro
Águas do Centro Alentejo
Águas do Minho e Lima
Águas do Mondego
Águas do Norte Alentejano
Águas do Oeste
Águas de Santo André
Águas de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Águas do Zêzere e Côa

The pure bulk water companies are:

Águas do Cávado
Águas do Douro e Paiva serving Porto and surrounding municipalities

The pure bulk sewer and wastewater treatment companies are:

Saneamento da Costa do Estoril, S.A. Sanest
Sistema Integrado Multimunicipal de Águas Residuais da Península de Setúbal, S.ASimarsul
Saneamento Integrado dos Municípios do Lis, S.A. Simlis
Sistema Multimunicipal de Saneamento da Ria de Aveiro, S.A. Simria
Saneamento Integrado dos municipios do Tejo e Trancao, S.A (Simtejo)

Map of service areas of water and sewer companies

EPAL - the water company serving Lisbon Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres, SA (EPAL) is a special case. The water company serving Lisbon and surrounding municipalities is a fully owned subsidiary of Águas de Portugal, in charge of bulk water supply and of water distribution. It provides services directly to 330,000 customers and indirectly to 1.3 million customers in 23 municipalities which buy bulk water from EPAL.

History since the 1970s

When Portugal emerged from years of dictatorship and the Carnation Revolution

Carnation Revolution

The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...

's turmoil in 1974, the level of access to services, the technologies used and the service quality were far from optimal. In particular, most municipal wastewater was discharged without any treatment at that time. However, substantial improvements have been achieved since then, in particular after Portugal's adhesion to the European Community (now the European Union

European Union

) in 1986 which was accompanied by the gradual introduction of EU standards and financing by the European Investment Bank

European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank is the European Union's long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions...

, the introduction of multi-municipal utilities and the holding company Águas de Portugal in 1993, and the creation of a regulatory agency for the sector in 2000.

Portugal's membership of the European Community in 1986 and the EU Urban waste water framework directive of 1991 triggered a series of reforms undertaken by the government of then Prime Minister Cavaco Silva in order to modernize the sector, to improve service quality and to effectively use EU funds destined to the sector. Until then service provision had been the sole responsibility of the municipalities, with the exception of the metropolitan area of Lisbon which was served by the multi-municipal company called Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres (EPAL). Many municipalities were small and did not have the financial or human resources to modernize their water and sanitation services. Furthermore, the need to buy water from sources located in other municipalities and to lower costs by constructing wastewater treatment plants serving several municipalities, provided incentives for municipalities to cooperate.

Therefore, in 1993, the government introduced a policy to actively promote multi-municipal companies through Decree-law 379/93. The main vehicle to advance the reform process was the public Holding Company Águas de Portugal created in the same year, which was to be the majority owner of the newly created multi-municipal companies alongside with the participating municipalities. The government provided preferential access to EU structural funds to those municipalities that agreed to participate in the new multi-municipal companies, which were gradually created beginning in 1995. There was a strong continuity of sector policies, despite a change in government from the Social Democratic Party to the Socialist Party of Primer Minister António Guterres

António Guterres

António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, GCC is a Portuguese politician, a former prime minister and President of the Socialist International. Currently he is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.-Early life:...

after the elections of 1995.

In 2000 the government published the first strategic plan for water and sanitation, further promoting the modernization of the sector and the consolidation of service provision. In the same year the regulatory agency IRAR began its work. Solid waste management was included in the purview of both AdP and IRAR, which was later renamed into ERSAR. Sector policies continued to be stable after subsequent changes of government in the elections of 2002 won by the Social Democrats and of 2005 won by the Socialists. A judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of 29 September 2005 found against Portugal for not complying with a series of drinking water parameters laid down in the EU drinking water directive. In 2007 the government published its second strategic plan for water and sanitation.

Developments since 2007

In March 2007 the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

launched infringement

Infringement

Infringement, when used alone, has several possible meanings in the English language.In a legal context, an infringement refers to the violation of a law or a right. This includes intellectual property infringements such as:*Copyright infringement...

procedures against Portugal for not complying with three Court judgements on the quality of drinking water. It also referred Portugal to the European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

over its failure to implement the EU wastewater framework directive.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas

Stavros Dimas

Stavros Dimas is a Greek politician who was European Commissioner for the Environment from 2004 to 2009. Since November 2011, he has served in the government of Greece as Minister for Foreign Affairs.-Early career:...

said: "It is important that Portugal comply with these Court judgements, since they have a direct bearing on public health and the conservation of important natural areas. The Commission has no choice but to continue with legal action if we are to achieve the level of environmental protection intended in our legislation."

In 29 of the urban areas concerned by the directive, required collection and/or treatment systems are still not in place. For instance in Lisbon

Lisbon

, the waste water treatment plant of Alcântara is not operational. In Matosinhos

Matosinhos

in the region of Oporto, only primary (basic) treatment is in place. In Costa de Aveiro, 60% of the polluting load generated is not collected and 65% is not treated. In Povoa de Varzim /Vila do Conde, 60% of the load was not collected and the level of treatment in place was unknown. In August 2010 a tertiary treatment plant started operating.(source missing)

Concerning drinking water, Portugal still does not comply with some of the parameters of the EU directive. For example, almost 50% of water supply zones do not comply as regards total coliforms, while 20% of the zones do not comply with the faecal coliforms parameter. The situation improved in 2004, the most recent year for which Portugal provided data.

Tariffs and cost recovery

For regional companies water tariffs vary between 0.31 to 0.55 euro per cubic metre and sewer tariffs vary between 0.33 and 0.54 euro per cubic metre. While in water supply systems cost recovery levels are satisfactory, the situation regarding sanitation is clearly unsustainable. The coastal urban regions show greater cost recovery ratios than the inland regions, especially regarding the Northeast region where the costs are higher and revenues are lower. A decree defining the water and sanitation tariff policy is being finalized in 2007. The decree determines the basic rules for tariff setting and aims at achieving full cost recovery, in line with the EU Water Framework Directive.

In 2010 the government was planning to set up a national tariff equilibirium fund to cross-subsidize utilities in the poorer inland regions with revenues from the wealthier coastal regions. The regulaor ERSAR says that it is not aware of a similar mechanmism anywhere else in the world.

Investment and finance

Many water systems in Portugal are quite old, so that there is a substantial requirement for infrastructure rehabilitation. From 2000 to 2006 investment needs in the sector were estimated at 4.23 billion euro, including 2.37 billion euro in bulk water supply and wastewater treatment (vertem "baixa"). Actual investments were in the same order of magnitude, but with a very different breakdown than expected: 3.4 billion euro, or 77% more than expected, had to be invested in bulk supply and wastewater treatment, mainly because cost estimates had been too low and because environmental standards had been tightened. Concerning investments in water distribution and sewers (vertem "alta"), they were only 0.9 billion euro and thus much lower than expected. Many of these investments had to be postponed because of lack of funding.

AdP by itself invested 588 million euro in 2006 alone. Grants from the European Regional Development Fund

European Regional Development Fund

The European Regional Development Fund is a fund allocated by the European Union.-History:During the 1960s, the European Commission occasionally tried to establish a regional fund. Only Italy ever supported this, however, and nothing came of it. Britain made it an issue for their accession in...

funded about 1.7 million euro, or 40% of total investments in 2000-2006. Loans from the European Investment Bank

European Investment Bank

(EIB) to Águas de Portugal and self-generated capital of the utilities funded the remainder of the investments. In October 2006 the EIB approved a 925 million euro loan for investments in eleven regional water and sanitation utilities in Portugal.

Since 2000 two mid-term national investment plans for the sector, PEAASAR I 2000-2006 and PEAASAR II 2007-2013, have been approved. Such national sector investment plans are an interesting feature that is specific to Portugal and are not common in other EU countries.

External links

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