In 2009, Lisbon secured the organisation of world water Congress, an event which kicks off today and was "won", five years ago, at the expense of the proposals of Istanbul (Turkey), Brussels (Belgium), Dublin (Ireland) and Geneva (Switzerland).
Considered to be the most important Congress on water in the world, the event is organized by the International Water Association (IWA) and will have as its theme "Shaping the future of water". The waters of Portugal is one of the companies that actively works in the Organization of the event â€" or not perform it in Portugal â€" reason Green Savers interviewed the President of the company, Afonso Lobato Faria.
What are the main themes that expects to see discussed and clarified in Congress? The water sector is of great importance in the context of public health, the quality of the environment, climate change, innovation. These are cross-cutting themes to more technical topics of the agenda of Congress, relating to security and quality of supply, cutting-edge technologies, innovative treatment processes, contributions of science â€" and also with issues of governance, management models, economic and financial sustainability or energy efficiency.
This is the first time that this Congress takes place in Portugal, what distinguishes us but also brings a greater responsibility. I hope that participants of more than 100 countries present enjoy fully the breadth of knowledge and experience shared by the best specialists of the sector that also come from different latitudes.
That keynote speakers will not lose and why? The greatest difficulty will be choosing, because the range of possibilities is very rich and diverse. If you could highlight just one, I'd say I have special curiosity by the intervention of Sue Murphy, CEO of Water Corporation of Western Australia, which will address the issues of efficiency and sustainability of water services â€" which is one of the main challenges of our sector in Portugal.
The waters of Portugal will have a very broad set of sessions and workshops. That highlights topics on this list? We can really be proud of the participation of the waters of Portugal, since early in the active participation of EPAL in the Organization of the Congress. In all other group companies, we are involved in promotion of round tables and workshops, we have participated in more than 20 panels, we have 32 posters, we promote business forums and various other activities in an excellent shows the capabilities of our employees.
In this context, we must highlight the workshops "Management models for water utilities" and "Investments for 2020 in Portuguese speaking Countries", both powered by group companies and taking place on the first day of the Congress, day 22.
Wednesday, March 24, is a day of great prominence for the group a session dedicated to the issue of water Safety plans, in the Conference program, fully supported by employees. Also on this day, I would like to highlight the presentation of the "Handbook for the development of water Safety plans" in the booth of Ãguas de Portugal, in the scope of the Congress. This is a manual developed by a working group of the Ãguas de Portugal specialized in water Safety plans (PSA), being an adaptation of the publicaçãoWater Safety Plan Manual: step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers, World Health Organization and the International Association of water, complemented with the experience of the AdP group companies, who already have implemented Water safety plans.
I can't help but also refer to the technical visits on Friday, day 26, the various water treatment infrastructures in the group, as the wastewater treatment stations de Alcântara, Lisbon, da Guia, in Cascais, and Serzedo, in Guimarães, and the water treatment plant of Asseiceira, in Tomar.
One of the reasons cited for winning Congressional organization Lisbon water world had as a backdrop to our privileged relationship with the Ibero-American and African countries. What role can have the waters of Portugal in developing good practices and innovations in these countries? It is a fact that the historical affinities and common language are conveyed in a natural way international projects conducted by Ãguas de Portugal, namely in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Timor-Leste. This relationship has been consolidated over almost two decades of cooperative projects, technical assistance and concessions management of water services and waste.
Is for us a great satisfaction to have all these our partners here in Lisbon at the world water Congress, especially because it is an opportunity to consolidate the projects that we have in common and share the challenges of the future that are discussed in the various conferences and technical sessions.
One of the themes that most enthusiasm is building in Congress is the reuse of residual water. What is your opinion on this subject and how this innovation can be a global reality? Ãguas de Portugal group also shares this enthusiasm, especially as the wastewater reuse is one of the priority areas of investment in innovation and Research Group Development and & was also listed as one of the areas to deepen under a partnership of cooperation with institutions of higher learning Polytechnic who recently concluded.
This means that, being the Waters of Portugal group responsible for treating wastewater of about 80% of the Portuguese population, have naturally a great responsibility in deepening the viability and environmental added value, economic-financial and technical of wastewater reuse in their systems. Even in one of the sessions will be devoted to this theme, on Tuesday, a contributor to our with a speech on "Wastewater Reuse: Strategic Planning as a Viability Factor".
Currently the reuse of waste water in the washing of floors of facilities and equipment, irrigation of green spaces and in the preparation of reagents is already common to the majority of our systems at the same time they're being developed other pilot projects, such as the delivery of waste water treated to municipal uses in large urban centers, such as washing of streets and containers, watering of golf courses and even the cooling of cooling systems of commercial spaces.
Read More