Every day of the week, regardless of the weather, four river keepers keep watch and monitor the Leça River, which crosses the municipalities of Maia, Matosinhos, Santo Tirso, and Valongo, bringing back to life a profession that was extinct in 1995
Photo: Francisco Teixeira/CMM
With a length of 47 kilometers, every day André, José, Paulo and Daniel travel along the river Leça by car, electric bike or on foot, monitoring and keeping an eye out for any irregularities, namely changes in water quality, colonization of invasive plants, pollution, fallen fences or blockages.
In addition to this, they also promote biodiversity, plant trees, and make the population aware of the need to take care of the environment.
To these functions will be added others that, within two to three months, will become simpler, with the creation of an application for cell phones ('app') where the kingpins will be able to, immediately, georeference and record with text and image the occurrence, told Lusa today the executive director of the Association of Municipalities Corridor of the Leça River, Artur Branco.
The application will make the recorded occurrences reach the authorities responsible for intervening much faster, and thus be resolved more quickly.
So far, said the responsible, the kingpins have already detected a dozen anomalous situations.
This profession, which is considered to be from the past, after having been formally extinguished in 1995, is now recovered with the old functions, but with new environmental challenges.
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