Partners gathered in Guimarães for a conference on the challenges of circularity of water

The partners of the network CApt2 – Circularity of Water: By All and For All, part of the National Circular Cities Initiative (InC2), met in Guimarães on 22 and 23 May at a meeting that ended with a conference on the challenges of circularity of water.

At the conference, which took place at the Laboratório da Paisagem, attended by the deputy director-general of the Directorate-General for the Territory, Ana Seixas, and the vice-president of the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission, Célia Ramos, the eight network partners presented the Local Integrated Action Plans, which resulted from the various meetings attended and which aim to promote water efficiency and the reuse of water in an urban context. There was also room for two round tables, one with the partners’ political representatives and another with representatives of the local action groups, where the importance of local strategies for the sustainable development of cities was debated.

During the two-day visit to Guimarães, the partners of the network led by Laboratório da Paisagem, which includes the municipalities of Águeda, Lagoa (Açores), Loulé, Mértola, Oeiras, Oliveira de Frades and Ponte de Sor, were able to learn about the work developed by Laboratório da Paisagem for the sustainable development of the territory. Two visits were also made to good practices of efficient water management in Guimarães: the Gymnastics Academy, a building close to zero carbon, and the retention basins, water infrastructures to prevent the occurrence of floods in urban areas.

Initiated in September 2021, the CApt2 network – Circularity of Water: By All and For All held 10 meetings and visits to good practices in the eight partner municipalities, where local action planning groups were created, involving more than 150 entities. Four masterclasses were also held on river rehabilitation and water reuse, and 12 articles were published in specialist journals. The network members also made an international visit to Cyprus, the country with the highest water stress index in Europe.