Brussels again is suing Portugal due to the country's failure to provide modern waste water treatment for over 100,000 citizens.
The European Commissioners say that by not properly treating waste water there is a threat to public health and that this is the third time Portugal has been reprimanded for failing to install or even plan for a programme to construct treatment plants mostly for outlying and remote villages.
Portugal's Ministry of the Environment claims that the domestic water industry has made great strides since joining the European Community in the mid 80s.
Taking the figures from 2009, the Ministry claims that only 186 communities still were without modern waste water treatment systems and that now in 2014 there are only 53 such communities.
As it stands there are no current plans for half of these remaining communities, a situation that is unlikely to improve in the near future with regional water suppliers owed hundreds of millions by local councils and reluctant to invest in infrastructure in isolated rural hamlets with a long pay-back period.
