The Intermunicipal Community of Alto Alentejo (CIMAA) will sign on September 21st, in Portalegre, the 14.6 million euro contract for the construction of hydraulic infrastructures that will connect the future Pisão reservoir to the Water Treatment Station (ETA) of Póvoa e Meadas. The ceremony is scheduled for 10:00 at CIMAA's auditorium. The work includes approximately 25 kilometres of elevated pipelines, starting at a pumping station to be built at the foot of the future dam and ending at a connection chamber near the Póvoa e Meadas Dam, crossing the municipalities of Crato, Castelo de Vide and Nisa.
The system was designed to provide 3.3 cubic hectometres of water for public supply, intended to contribute to the urban consumption needs of eight municipalities in Alto Alentejo: Alter do Chão, Avis, Crato, Fronteira, Gavião, Nisa, Ponte de Sor and Sousel. This connection to the Póvoa e Meadas ETA is part of the Crato Multipurpose Hydraulic Development, whose overall investment is estimated at over 220 million euros.
The formalization of this contract occurs in a particular context, as the Pisão Dam works remain suspended within the framework of judicial litigation. According to CIMAA's president, Joaquim Diogo, the proceedings returned to the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Castelo Branco by decision of higher instances, with new procedures scheduled, including hearings of inhabitants from the village of Pisão, technicians and witnesses. In June, GEOTA announced that the Southern Central Administrative Court had maintained the provisional decree of the precautionary measure that suspends the effectiveness of the Environmental Impact Statement of the main project.
CIMAA argues, however, that the legal situation of the main dam does not prevent the execution of this connection to the Póvoa e Meadas ETA. Joaquim Diogo stated that the intermunicipal community sought legal and technical advice, arguing that this intervention has an autonomous Environmental Impact Statement, and can therefore proceed independently of the suspension affecting the main component of the development.
