The shameful situation at the landfill site in Salir, where liquid pollution is seeping into the river Vascão, had been raised in parliament with the Environment Minister again under pressure to explain his department’s role.Social Democratic MPs from the Algarve today questioned João Matos Fernandes on the situation of leachate runoff from the Sotavento Algarvio Landfill in Salir and the resulting pollution in the local river.
"This occurrence of leachates occurred two weeks ago, with the pollution in the stream visible to the naked eye and the runoff constituting an attack on the environmental," reads the PSD statement.
In recent days, the visibly polluted water can be seen in Foralha, some three kilometres downstream from the leaking landfill site.
MPs José Carlos Barros and Cristóvão Norte want to know if the Ministry is aware of the situation and what actions have been or are being developed in order to solve the problem.
The MPs, suspecting the answer will be 'zilch,' also requested information on the inspection actions that have been carried out by the Ministry of the Environment in order to ensure good environmental performance associated with the operation and operation of the landfill.
These questions are designed to embarrass the Minister into giving one of his trademark weak explanations about monitoring at the Salir site, run by the Algarve’s regional rubbish company, Algar.
