The Coimbra City Council is “intensifying” the irrigation of thousands of trees planted in recent years with water collected from the Mondego River, in order to reduce the use of the public network for this purpose, the municipality said on Friday.
Currently, in Coimbra, “Around 30% of municipal green spaces are already irrigated with water from rivers and streams”but the municipality intends to increase this percentage, said the City Council, in a press release sent to the Lusa agency.
It is “a measure that takes into account the most severe weather conditions of last summer and that aims to reduce the use of water from the public network for irrigation,” he clarifies.
The process involves tank trucks that collect water directly from the Mondego River, and the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) has issued a license for that purpose.
This action was intensified due to the most adverse weather conditions of the summer months, which require special care in the irrigation of thousands of trees”, he pointed out.
These plantations “involve a significant economic investment in the promotion of urban biodiversity, in the reduction of heat islands and, consequently, in the fight against the mitigation of the effects of climate change,” he argued.
According to the municipality, in areas where irrigation is carried out with public water, there has been “a significant reduction in irrigation times and consequent consumption”.
In addition to these measures, the municipality is studying “the greater use of plant species more suitable for the Mediterranean climate for public green spaces, aimed at lower water consumption and that they are also native species, with a phytosociological framework.”
“In the same line, studies have also been carried out on intelligent irrigation that allow the control and monitoring of irrigation systems in a centralized way,” he added.
Source: Observadora
