On Tuesday, the municipality issued a notice to the population, where the biological risk is classified as yellow, being a low or medium risk to health.

"The water can be used for bathing and washing. Direct consumption is not recommended without first boiling it. Therefore, it can be used for drinking and cooking, provided that it is boiled first", warned Vítor Correia.

The non-conformities were detected in the regular analyses carried out within the scope of the Water Quality Control Plan, in a sampling carried out on the 17th of this month "whose results came with two irregularities that were not very representative, but which are irregularities", according to Vítor Correia.

These values outside the parameters refer to the presence of enterococci (1 UFC/100 ml, the parametric value being 0 UFC/100ml) and coliform bacteria (53 UFC/100ml, the parametric value being 0 UFC/100ml).

In addition to the notice, the legal mechanisms were triggered, which are to inform the Regulatory Entity for Services and Wastewater and the health delegation, added Vítor Correia, also informing that the procedures to restore the water quality have already been developed. The verification results, that is, the counter-analyses, are now awaited.

Vítor Correia added that specific cases like this are normal and that the analyses take "between 8 to 10 working days", expecting that during the next week there will be conditions to resume normality.

Carlos Monteiro, president of the parish council where around 200 people live, contacted by Lusa, explained that when they received the information from the municipality they placed notices with the information and recommendations in the village, as well as on social networks. "If the alert were red, we would go door-to-door", guaranteed Carlos Monteiro. 

"As soon as it is boiled, the water is good. The levels of the changes told us that they were very low, even so it was advisable to warn the population. (...) Maybe the water is already good for direct consumption, but until the counter-analysis this warning remains", said Carlos Monteiro.

The deputy mayor added that this is the only non-conformity currently detected in the municipality. "There was recently, but counter-analyses were carried out and they are regularized", assured Vítor Correia.

In Abreiro, a parish in the same municipality where complaints from the population about the colour of the water had been verified, Vítor Correia revealed that a "more specific intervention" had been carried out, with the tanks being supplied with water from Mirandela, with the help of the firefighters and without "additional dangers" for consumers.

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