“We respect those who respect the Furnas Crater Lake, those who care about it and all those who defend it are defending the policies that we have developed in order to find a solution for this problem.” These words were conveyed by Carlos Cesar to journalists at the Sant’ Anna Palace after welcoming the Mayor of the Povoação Town Hall, Carlos Ávila, at an audience held yesterday. The analysis of the eutrophication process of the Furnas Crater Lake, located in the municipality of Povoação, and the actions developed by the Government throughout the years to solve this problem were the main issues addressed at this meeting.

In fact, for the President of the Government, “the process in question and the actions that we have developed have slow results. The problems have begun several generations ago; however they have intensified in recent decades.”

Carlos César considered stated that the work carried out by the Government will be continued throughout this generation given the positive results achieved with these measures. “What I wish is that this generation of environmental policies be able to compensate and overcome the deregulation that existed in previous years, restoring the natural healthy condition of this natural monument.”

As he explained, this year this matter became a controversial issue due to the high levels of insolation and high air temperatures which were responsible for the changes occurred in this body of water.

Carlos César recalled that in recent years, particularly since 2006, the Government has developed “a very thoughtful and careful action,” including the acquisition of 265 hectares of land, which were pastures, the removal of waste from an area of about 220 hectares as well as of manure and fertilisers that ran directly into to the crater lake. Meanwhile, the Government has built 10 retention basins and removed dozens of tons of polluting waste from the acquired lands.

The Government has also prevented a significant amount of solid waste from running into the crater lake and planted trees in more than 30 hectares of steep and degraded land around the lake in order to avert this degradation.

The Government has developed an intervention programme for the lake which includes the airing of the water and the removal of several tons of algae along the shores.

“And we will proceed with this work,” said the President of the Government
This work will be carried out by continuing the plan for the acquisition of land in the hydrographic basin, the plan to change land use and the intensity of fertilisation in the soils near the lake, the water airing methods and waste suction, the latter to be developed over the next year. 

“We are now at a more advance stage regarding the study of waste suction in the half-bottom of the lake,” said Carlos César, “which will certainly improve the situation, but this plan is very delicate, because what we have to do, basically, is to make sure that what will be removed from the lake is not the top layer, which is in good condition, but the middle and half-bottom layers. This requires a financial, technical and scientific investment, which cannot be carried out carelessly.”

Carlos César also believes that dredging poses special problems: “We intend to develop suction dredge plans, but we will not remove waste at the bottom which can endanger the sealing of the soils supporting this body of water.”

The President of the Government concluded that “there is an ongoing process that is being developed over the years.

This process represented an investment of 10,500,000 Euros from 2006 to 2011 that is being carefully developed in accordance with the financial resources of the Region, but which have not been neglected given the importance of what is in question. In addition, the tests made to the water have registered a positive evolution, which evidences the improvement of the water quality of the Furnas Crater Lake.”

During the meeting with Carlos Ávila, other issues were also addressed from the monitoring of the issues concerning the difficult financial situation of the Town Hall to the major investments planned for the municipality of Povoação.

These investments include the slope protection of the secondary school, slope protection Visconde Botelho Neighbourhood, an investment over half a million Euros, the Arrastadouros and Serra do Trigo agricultural roads, the projects for the seafront of Povoação, Faial da Terra and Ribeira Quente, where a cold storage will be installed. The public call for tenders for the latter work will be launched by the end of the year or in January 2012.