Integrated Local Action Plan - CApt2

Most water in urban areas still follows a practically linear path: the city collects, uses and then discharges the water, treated or not, into water lines that eventually flow into the ocean. This approach to water is not sustainable in the long term, as it does not recognise the intrinsic value of water as a finite resource with unpredictable availability.

From a sustainable development perspective, cities must improve the way they consider water in urban planning and territorial management, in order to optimise the protection and recovery of ecosystems, the sustainable and equitable use of good quality water, and adaptation to climate change. It is of great importance to increase the circularity of water use and improve water efficiency by ensuring water management that meets the needs of human activities and ecosystems in an equitable and sustainable way.

Rethinking urban water through the lens of the circular economy and resilience requires cities to create integrated long-term strategies for sustainable water management in order to cope with the increased frequency and intensity of periods of drought and scarcity.

This Local Integrated Action Plan is one of the results of the national project CApt2 – Circularity of Water: By All and For All, which aims to promote integrated, effective and participatory management in all dimensions of the Urban Water Cycle. This instrument identifies measures for the conservation and sustainable management of water resources that meet the main challenges and needs of the municipality of Guimarães, from an intervention perspective that combines the efficient use of the resource and the transition to a circular economy in the water sector.