Azorean Government provides Support Programme for Acquisition of Drinking Water Meters
The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism stated on Terceira Island that the Regional Government of the Azores has created a Support Programme for the Acquisition of Drinking Water Meters. According to her, they are an important tool to "improve the management of this natural resource and avoid its waste by reinforcing the quality of services in order to safeguard a fundamental good."
An ordinance published today in the Official Gazette establishes the regulations of the programme, which will be implemented through ERSARA - Entity for the Regulation of Water and Waste Services of the Azores.
"We do not neglect the importance of improving the quality indicators on the use of water resources, especially with regard to the water balance. Therefore, this is an essential measure to measure and, consequently, avoid water losses," said Marta Guerreiro.
According to the government official, ERSARA published in 2017 a series of indicators to assess the quality of services provided by water supply managing entities," with special emphasis on matters related to good water management and water losses."
"It is considered that the loss of water that is, the water collected that fails to reach consumers is one of the main efficiency data; however, this is not a fact known by the vast majority of water management entities," stressed the government official. In this regard, she pointed out that in 2018 only six of the 19 entities in the Azores had information on water losses in supply systems.
For Marta Guerreiro, "it is fundamental to improve this information to support decision making, especially at a time when prolonged drought situations are occurring such as those in the summer of 2018."
"With this support programme for the acquisition of meters, the Regional Government reinforces, once again, the importance of good water management, providing a better knowledge and improving the data on water consumption and, consequently, on the water balance in each municipality," stressed the government official.
The Secretary for the Environment pointed out that the programme is aimed at water management entities that are subject to ERSARA regulations with an overall annual allocation of 100 thousand Euros; applications may be submitted until December 31, 2021.
The ordinance published today, which comes into effect Wednesday, states that the financial support cannot exceed the annual amount of 10 thousand Euros per entity.
For managing entities that have not yet measured the water consumed, the support is increased by 20 percentage points, corresponding to a reimbursement of 50%.
This ordinance also stipulates special support for the acquisition of remote reading equipment, an automated technology for the measurement and transmission of data. It will result in efficiency gains for managing entities and more accurate readings for consumers as it will increase the frequency of actual consumption readings instead of bills based on estimates.
Marta Guerreiro spoke in Praia da Vitória at the end of a visit to Pico Viana Reservoir, one of the installations covered by the interventions carried out under the Support Programme for the Acquisition of Flow Meters.
"Within the scope of this programme, eight flow meters are being installed in the municipality of Praia da Vitória, representing an investment of nearly 17 thousand Euros, of which 10 thousand Euros were reimbursed by ERSARA," stressed the Regional Secretary. On the occasion, she revealed that "more than 30 thousand Euros have already been allocated to support the installation of 35 flow meters in the Region."