In a response sent to the Lusa agency, the GNR states that in 2020 they "registered 14 complaints which led to five criminal proceedings for discharge of effluent into the water line and nine administrative offence proceedings for discharge of livestock effluent into the ground".

In that year, according to GNR, "the water resource most affected was the Lena River, in the localities of Porto de Mós and Batalha.

In the previous year, "eight complaints were registered that resulted in three criminal proceedings and five administrative proceedings for the same reasons", and in 2019 "the water resource most affected was the Ribeira dos Milagres, in the localities of Texugueira and Bidoeira de Cima", in the municipality of Leiria.

GNR adds that in both years there are "more occurrences during the morning period and on days with some rainfall".

GNR source said that most of the denunciations occur in the area of Territorial Detachment of Leiria, which covers the municipalities of Batalha, Leiria, Marinha Grande and Porto de Mós.

On 5 January, at the meeting of the municipal executive, the mayor of Leiria, Gonçalo Lopes, announced in a statement the creation of the Municipal Environmental Monitoring Service, with the aim of "implementing a system of surveillance, deterrence and detection of environmental crimes.

The service aims to "contribute to reducing the number of environmental crimes in the most diverse areas, caused by negligence or intentional cause, and the reduction of intervention time", Gonçalo Lopes explained on the occasion, pointing out that the initiative "does not have police characteristics, nor does it intend to replace the inspection and police entities".