Last year the Funchal City Council (CMF) purchased a water detection vehicle, and records released today show that in the last quarter of 2020, two-hundred and twenty non-visible leaks were detected throughout the municipality of Funchal, equating to 13.5 km of water pipes.
The Mayor of Funchal, Miguel Silva Gouveia, stated that “with this innovative vehicle we have fulfilled several of our environmental goals, including identifying, controlling, and reducing losses in the water network of our municipality, and also maintaining our commitment to the sustainability of this important and valuable natural resource. The municipalities investment ensures that at this moment, water losses in the municipality are lower than those that occurred at the beginning of the past decade. This is an area that deserves special attention in municipal management, innovation and technology.”
Miguel Silva Gouveia concluded by saying that “we will continue to invest, both in training and hiring new employees, as well as in the acquisition of equipment in order to ensure the environmental sustainability of the municipality’s drinking water.”
The strategy for the Active Control of Water Losses in Funchal (ACWLF), also includes the implementation of an innovative and centralised remote management system, which downloads information identifying specific water leak areas. The first phase of this investment has cost in the region of 2.3 million euros, and work is already underway in the parishes of São Martinho, Santo António and São Roque.
Finally, it should be noted that the 2nd phase of the project is currently awaiting approval from the Court of Auditors, and represents an investment of 9.2 million euros, which will cover the remaining parishes in the city.
Acquisition of the specialist vehicle represents a municipal investment of 100 thousand euros, which was co-financed by POSEUR.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
