The Municipality of Mortágua has greenlit the launch of the first of three public tenders for interventions in the municipality's water network. This initial lot, with a base price of 360,412.50 euros (plus VAT) and an execution period of 24 months, focuses on the Mortágua River and a downstream section of the Fraga River.
The intervention will cover a total of 13.4 km and aims to strengthen the hydraulic and ecological resilience of the river system. Nature-based engineering solutions will be implemented, including renaturalization processes and water retention in the soil.
Additionally, the Municipality has approved the projects for two more contracts, concerning Lot A (Santa Cristina and Fraga Rivers) and Lot C (Mortágua River - Vale de Açores - Albufeira da Aguieira). These actions involve the stabilization, reshaping, and renaturalization of the riverbed and banks, with the installation of environmentally friendly hydraulic solutions, creation of water and sediment retention areas, cleaning, selective pruning, control of invasive species, recovery of riparian corridors, planting of native vegetation, and creation of fauna shelter structures.
These interventions, which include applications for EU funds under the Centro 2030 Programme, have environmental and ecological objectives to increase the safety of people and property, resilience to climate change (risks of floods, erosion), strengthen ecological connectivity, and enhance riparian corridors and the surrounding landscape. In total, the three contracts will cover 33 km with an estimated investment exceeding 1 million euros.
The municipality of Mortágua has an extensive network of watercourses, considered one of its main environmental and landscape assets, which serve for irrigation, are part of hiking trails, host biodiversity, and are used as leisure areas.
