Water
Everything comes down to nature
The water consumed in Braga has the Cávado river as it source. In 2022, the municipal company AGERE won the Seal of Exemplary Quality of Water for Human Consumption. To reinforce wastewater treatment, the new Este ETAR will be built. Water quality is a key factor in the classification of three river beaches on the Cávado River with Blue Flag, with the aim of achieving this status for two more – which will be unprecedent at national level. The regularization and naturalization of the Este, Castro, Torto and rivers have improved water quality and returned these structural corridors to the community.
Good Practices
Description and Objectives
Braga had a very pronounced urban growth between the 80s and 2000s and, in the process of responding to emerging socioeconomic needs, there were soil waterproofing and artificialization of the city’s main water bodies. The knowledge advancement and the recognition of natural resources as fundamental assets for the city, led the Braga City Council to make great efforts to reverse this situation and to correct past mistakes. Some of the initiatives and good practices that contributed for this objective in the past years were: Rios Project – the City Council, in collaboration with NGOs, challenged civil society entities (schools, volunteer groups and civil society organizations) to voluntarily adopt a section of the Este River. This project plays an important role in Braga’s water resources integrated management and climate adaptation, promoting social participation in the rivers’ conservation. Regularization and rehabilitation of the Este River – including Este River Eco-route and ecological Urban River Restoration Corridors, this rehabilitation project corrects artificialization processes occurred during the urban growth in the 80 and 2000s, creating small retention basins and removing concrete from the riverbed and side walls, replacing it with natural materials and using NBS and natural engineering methods. Regularization and rehabilitation of Castro and Torto River – included the creation of a green corridor and a cycle path, widening the riverbank and creating retention basins. The rehabilitation of watercourses makes possible control flooding episodes, increase water quality, control erosion processes, improve soil quality and preserve biodiversity.
Current and/or potential future impact
Environmental
- Improvement of the water bodies ecological status
- Preservation of the natural ecosystems and landscape
Social
- Improvement of the quality of life through the fruition of the natural spaces
Economic
- Promotion of touristic activities
- Cost saving with health issues
Contributes to the sustainability transitions
- Green transition
- Climate transition
- Social transition
Innovative nature and potential for replication in other cities
These projects aim to reconcile citizens with watercourses and riverside living, corresponding to a modern vision of life quality in cities, and they can be replicated in other cities that have gone through similar processes of rapid urban growth, which have lost contact with nature in a vision of urban life that is very different from the standards and demands of today.
Engagement with stakeholders and communication strategies
The projects involved the local community groups, NGOs, public and private companies and schools, and the achieved results with the return of rivers to people are the best way to communicate the importance of these initiatives.