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The 2024 bathing season is close to the recent record for pollution episodes

Época balnear poluição
Época balnear poluição

The bathing season is halfway over, but the comings and goings of advisories and bans on Portuguese beaches, usually associated with microbiological issues, have already made 2024 the second-worst year of the last seven in terms of beach pollution. There were 84 episodes of bathing advisories and bans on bathing beaches in mainland Portugal up to 7 August, according to the annual data made available to PÚBLICO since 2018 by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA). This figure is just below the 94 cases of 2022 and can easily be surpassed in the coming weeks, making it possible to achieve a recent record for this year.

Read the full text here.

Source: Público; Image: Denis Oliveira via Unsplash.

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Pioneering sensor experiment measuring water quality on two Portuguese beaches

Qualidade da água
Qualidade da água

Two experimental sensor systems are assessing the water quality of two Portuguese beaches at a microbiological level, in an international project responsible for monitoring the River Seine tributaries during the Paris Olympics and the Seine itself before the games began.

The experiment, coordinated in Portugal by the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) at the University of Porto, aims to test not only the technology's ability to analyze the presence of bacteria accurately but also its ability to analyze the presence of the bacteria Escherichia coli in real-time, but also, based on this information, the technology's ability to predict the evolution of the presence of these bacteria in the following hours, as is done in meteorology.

Read the full text here.

Source: Público; Image: Gary Walker-Jones via Unsplash.

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ICBAS brings One Health concept to schools

ICBAS leva o conceito One Health às escolas
ICBAS brings One Health concept to schools

Making children, teenagers, and young people aware that what we understand as Health also includes the health of animals, plants and the environment is the focus of the initiative "One Health in Schools". In April and May, the concept was presented in a simple and participatory way in two primary schools in the Greater Porto region. Two different challenges, chosen by each of them, were also launched, accompanied by a practical activity alluding to the topic."

The Escola do Marco, from Agrupamento de Escolas António Sérgio in Vila Nova de Gaia, chose the topic 'Pets - benefits and care'. The students were visited by Lola the dog and heard from her guardian, the veterinarian Luísa Guardão from ICBAS, about the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with our animals. The Escola da Caramila, from Agrupamento Fontes Pereira de Melo in Porto, chose to work on the theme 'Water, a good for everyone? After an initial talk, and thanks to the participation of marine biologist Lúcia Gomes from the ICBAS Hydrobiology laboratory, they learned how to manually make a homemade filter from recycled materials to purify water and to identify various characteristics of this precious liquid.

But the activities won't stop there. In June, these children will come to ICBAS to present the solutions to the challenges. Families will also be able to watch and learn from the research carried out by the little ones at home.

From September, the 'One Health in Schools' will reach other levels of education, with a similar format, but adapted to the motivations and expectations of each stage.

At Escola do Marco, the dog Lola was the protagonist of the activity 'Pets - benefits and care'. Image credits: Sofia A. Costa Lima.

The importance of access to drinking water was reinforced with the construction of a 'homemade' filter at the Escola da Caramila. Image credits: Sofia A. Costa Lima.
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The One Health vision in diarrheal disease in Africa

By João Mesquita, ICBAS and Ana Machado, ICBAS

Death from diarrhea in childhood is largely preventable. However, the impact of diarrhea remains high and not fully characterized due to the complex interaction between the environment, food, water and sanitation, highlighting the multiple visions of One Health, particularly in Africa. A significant proportion of cases can be prevented through vaccination, clean water, sanitation and hygiene. Despite this, data from recent years report that diarrhea is responsible for the death of around 90% of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the significant mortality and long-term negative impacts on growth and development associated with chronic diarrhea, reducing the global burden of diarrhea remains a priority requiring multisectoral interventions.

Image – João Mesquita and Ana Machado at the ‘One Health Talk’ held at ICBAS on December 13, 2023. Credits: Begoña Pérez-Cabezas.

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“Tide of plastic” on beaches in Northern Spain could affect Portugal

The researcher Bordalo e Sá considered today that the authorities must monitor the coast and “implement a tailor-made contingency plan” for the “plastic tide” on the beaches of Northern Spain that could affect Portugal.

“Right now the dominant currents are to the north. It is likely that these particles will reach Portugal in the spring, when the direction of the currents changes, and if the entire contents [of the containers that transported the plastic] have not washed up on the coast, which fell into the sea, although with a smaller impact. The first step will be to activate beach surveillance, also using civil society, and the second step will be to implement a tailor-made and supervised contingency plan”, explained the hydrobiologist from the University of Porto, speaking to Lusa.

Read the full text here.

Source: Green Savers Sapo, Lusa; Image: Camille Minouflet via Unsplash

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Water, conflicts and refugees

By Adriano A. Bordalo e Sá, ICBAS and Joana Savva Bordalo e Sá, IPO-Porto

PORTO – Of all human rights, access to water is one of the most recent. It was declared by the UN General Assembly only in 2010. However, billions of people consume unsafe water worldwide, which causes diseases and eventually kills. Unfortunately, more than half a million children die from diarrhea due to the consumption of unsafe water every year.

During conflicts and war, life gets worse. The recent invasion of the Gaza strip, is yet another painful example alongside the conflicts in Eastern Europe, Yemen, Burma, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, D. R. Congo, among others. Without water there is no rehydration, no hygiene, no health. In malnourished Palestine, infectious diseases are spreading and in Yemen, the cholera epidemic – a waterborne disease – has remained uncontrolled since 2016, having affected nearly 3 million people, especially children.

In the middle of last year, there were 110 million displaced people worldwide, of which a third were refugees, something never seen before. If in the rich parts of Algarve or California every person uses 1,000 liters of water per day (120 in Portugal), the refugees, at most, have 5 liters (half a bucket) available, often filthy, making their lives even more miserable, compromising future generations.

Image – Adriano A. Bordalo e Sá at the ‘One Health Talk’ held at ICBAS on November 23, 2023 Credits: Sofia A. Costa Lima.

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Pollution in the Douro estuary. Researchers warn of “pitiful” condition.

There are boats on the Douro River that are making illegal discharges and there is no one controlling them. They are identified as one of the causes of river pollution.

But for environmentalists and researchers, this is just one of many problems. There are 22 thousand houses or commercial spaces with direct or indirect sewage to the Douro estuary.

See the full report here.

Source: RTP Notícias; Image: Quentin Marquet, Pixabay.

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There are more cruises on the Douro but not all of them treat water

Guardianship guarantees its own residual station on Portuguese hotel ships, but not on foreign ones. Captaincy issued five notices. Waste collected by tanker trucks is dumped into the sewer system.

In the first half of this year alone, there were 11,322 trips on the Douro River, including hotel ships, day cruises or pleasure boats. There are 132 more than registered last year. And, although the Ministry of Economy and the Sea guarantees, to JN, that “hotel ships flying the Portuguese flag all have their own wastewater or sewage treatment system”, the same cannot be said about foreign cruises operating in the Douro. António Costa Silva's office says that they are certified "as local auxiliary vessels", but the "construction process does not pass through Portugal", not ensuring that they have a similar system.

Read the full text here.

Source: Jornal de Notícias / Image Credits: Pedro Correia – Arquivo Global Imagens

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Pollution levels of the Ave River above those recommended by the EU

ICBAS researchers warn of the impact of pollution caused by farming in the Ave river basin.

A study of the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar of the University of Porto (ICBAS-UP), part of the ATLANTIDA Project (financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the NORTE 2020 Program), and recently published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, demonstrated that the use of pesticides from agricultural practices still has a significant negative impact on the Ave river.

What was, about 30 years ago, one of the most polluted rivers in the country and in Europe, the result of discharges from the textile industry characteristic of that region, continues today to face problems related to the pollution caused by the agricultural exploitation located in its hydrographic basin.

For Maria João Rocha, responsible for the study, these results are very relevant, in the sense that pollution in the Ave River is associated with the presence of industries, often forgetting that the effluents also come from agricultural areas.

Read the full text here.

Source: Notícias UP / Image credits: Câmara Municipal de Vila do Conde

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Aquatic science at ICBAS at the service of the health of the Biosphere

A Ciência da água
A Ciência da água

There is a lot of water on the Planet. But since it is 97% salty, it cannot be directly used by most land, air and freshwater aquatic beings. If 2000 years ago we had the same amount of water available as today, at the time for the consumption of 72 million inhabitants, the 8 billion people today have to share it among everyday uses, such as domestic, industrial and agricultural, requiring ever-increasing amounts. The pressure on the water resource has never been so high, but with ongoing climate change, globally applicable measures must be taken to protect the hydrosphere.

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly approved a historic resolution considering access to drinking water as a human right, along with other enshrined rights. Part of the water returns to the aquatic environment, but with different chemical, physical and even microbiological characteristics. In other words, polluted. Contaminated water means a sick environment and, ultimately, leads to the degradation of the health of the Biosphere, the thin layer of the Earth where living beings are distributed.

Read the full article here.

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