Madeira Consorcio

109th Madeira Consorcio Meeting 18.10.2019

 We had an excursion to the IGA Water Treatment plant in Sta. Quiteria (very near the Madeira Shopping).

Engineer D.S. and his assistant gave us a three-hour tour and showed us every nook and cranny, they are very proud of their work.

Sta. Quiteria – one of 10 such paces on the island – is much larger than it looks from outside, it consists of several floors, and on the lower basement the water is in a big tank before it gets introduced into the public water network. Lots of pipes and tanks, and half of the system, built in 1976, is not even in use yet as it is not needed. The website is http://www.aguasdamadeira.pt/

The most important points we took away from the visit:

• The incoming water quality has improved because the population stopped throwing rubbish and old electric appliances into the river beds.
• The water is treated in several stages and with chloride gas, and this gas has to “last” until our water faucets. We can then let it evaporate by simply letting the water rest in a jar.
• New products are used to flock out the organic residue in the incoming water (mind you: this is only about fresh water, not sewage)
• The water quality needs to be checked and leveled out more than in the old days.
• The water quality is very good, it can be said that is it’s of better quality than “Agua de Luz”
• They have a great many security measures to make sure that the chloride gas doesn’t escape from the plant.
• The new “telemetragem” oversight is in the station in S. Roque
• The water we have in Sta. Quiteria comes from the North, via Encumeada and other ridges to Covão in Curral das Freiras.
• There is a map which shows where the water comes from:
• http://www.aguasdamadeira.pt/Portals/0/Documentos/Mapa_Madeira_interactivo.pdf
• The water is also used to produce electricity and to produce energy for the pumps needed to clean the sand filters. Eng. Sousa switched this cleaning process on for us, it was quite impressive!
• The best way to save water is for the municipalities to replace the old broken pipes, they are still losing a great amount of water!
• If water becomes scarce in Summer, some of it has to be redirected to some private Levada water companies who have a right to receive water for their agriculture: there is plenty of politics in it as well.

In November, we are planning a TED talk/Discussion in the usual meeting place again.