"The objective of the ongoing intervention is to correct anomalies, especially in the colour and transparency of water in the network, which has high levels of iron and manganese, but which are not harmful to health," the president of the chamber of this municipality of the district of Coimbra, Raul Almeida told Lusa.

The municipality has decided to move forward with the installation of the new filtration system after having received several complaints about the appearance of water, which often comes out of the faucet cloudy and brownish.

"We know from regular analysis that the water is potable and perfectly fit for human consumption, but we have decided to use the municipal budget to support this one-off investment to improve quality and appearance," said the mayor.

The intervention involves the installation of a new filtration system and new holes.

"These interventions have created occasional disruptions in the network, and it is expected that, once they are completed, in the coming days, the situation will be normalized," says Raul Almeida.

By 2020, a "groundbreaking intervention" is planned for the public network, for the rehabilitation of the Lagoa water collection and treatment station, new reserves and network modernization, with an estimated value of 1.3 million Euros.

This intervention, which was announced in July, stems from an application to the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficiency in Resources Use (POSEUR), made within the framework of the inter-municipal company incorporated in 2018 by the municipalities of Mira, Montemor-o-Velho and Soure.

"Since the Portugal 2020 programme only allows applications involving territorial areas of three or more municipalities, it was necessary to look for partners, in this case the municipalities of Montemor and Soure, thus reaching the minimum number of 50 thousand inhabitants," explains Raul Almeida.

In July 2018, Mira joined Montemor and Soure in setting up a water supply and wastewater treatment company serving more than 50,000 people.

Águas do Baixo Mondego e Gândara, EIM - Empresa Intermunicipal, S.A is a public company owned exclusively by the three municipalities in equal parts.

Mira also submitted a second application, in the same way, for a wastewater sanitation project that aims to close systems, namely the connection of the sewage network of the Industrial Zone of Mira Polo I and Polo II, for the routing of effluents for treatment and final destination.

"We hope that after these interventions there will no longer be anomalies in the public water supply in Mira," concludes Raul Almeida.