Vila Real de Santo António council completed vital sewage treatment works nearly a year ago, but as the government has failed to let the European Court of Justice know, a huge fine has been levied.
Vila Real council told the government that the work was finished and sewage no longer was being poured in to the Guadiana.
The council "has delivered to the Portuguese State all documents showing the total absence of untreated sewage in the Guadiana River and the comprehensive treatment of sewage at the Waste Water Treatment Plant," according to the council president Luís Gomes.
Gomes was reacting to a proposal to the European Union Court of Justice this week that Portugal should be fined heavily as Portugal has not addressed the sewage problem identified in 2004.
The European Community legislation on waste water banned the dumping of sewage into rivers and insisted that all human waste should be treated. The two councils most sharply criticised at the time were Matosinhos and Vila Real de Santo António.
In 2014 the EU announced that it had asked the Court of Justice to order Portugal to pay a fine of €3 million, plus €10,000 for each day that the remedial work remained unfinished.
This has led to a total due of around €4.5 million, a significant chunk of it payable because nobody bothered to let the court know that the work was done.
The mayor said today that “Over the past decade, we have made a financial commitment of €60 million in new supply networks, sanitation and water drainage and other work that represents the largest investment ever made in public works in the county, which also explains the council’s debt situation," as much of the money came from the council, rather than from Community funds.
"During the first half of 2015 we sent the Ministry of the Environment monthly updates on the progress of works. In May, we reported the works were completed and 100% of sewage was being treated and that none was being discharged into the Guadiana," claimed a council source when asked by Sul Informaçao today.
Last September, the former Secretary of State for the Environment Paulo Lemos and the Secretary of State for Regional Development Pedro Lomba were in Vila Real for the official completion of the works and they visited some of the infrastructure in between photo opportunities.
Why neither of these politicians informed the relevant EC authorities that the work had been completed remains unknown but a fine inflated to €4.5 million is the result.
One thing is for sure, the mayor has no intention of paying it.
