The city showing it can go with the flow on water issues
We have much to learn from Lisbon, a city that has halved its CO2 emissions, writes Geraldine Herbert
‘WE know Lisbon is not the greenest city in Europe, but we are evolving rapidly and we have a clear vision of what a sustainable urban future can be,” says Lisbon’s deputy mayor for environment, Jose Sa Fernandes.
Known for his unorthodox approach, Fernandes was one of the key movers behind the city’s recognition as this year’s European Green Capital and is one of a long succession of committed and innovative mayors.
Following the financial crash of 2008, many cities declined as austerity saw investment in public services reduce, prolonging the economic pain and delaying recovery. But not Lisbon. In 2011, with Portugal on the brink of bankruptcy, Antonio Costa, then mayor of Lisbon, established a new government administration aimed at transforming the city into a smart tech hub by encouraging investment and entrepreneurship.
Such was its success that in 2015, Paddy Cosgrave, founder of the Web Summit, relocated the annual technology conference to Lisbon, citing its strong infrastructure as one of the key factors. And it was this digital infrastructure and start-up culture which helped Lisbon to recover economically.
Today, Lisbon is not only a smart city but is also Europe’s greenest city. The award of European Green Capital 2020 recognised the city’s commitment to achieve a better urban environment and the transformation that has taken place in the past decade.
Last year the recipient was Oslo and next year Lahti in Finland will take up the baton, while the winner of the title of European Green Capital 2022 was due to be announced at an event in Lisbon last week but has been delayed because of the Covid-19 crisis. Dijon and
Grenoble in France, Tallinn in Estonia and Turin in Italy are the four finalists.
During the depths of the financial crisis, Lisbon invested in green initiatives and set ambitious environmental targets, achieving a 50pc reduction in CO2 emissions four years ahead of time.
By creating green corridors across the city, there has been a dramatic improvement in the quality of urban areas.
Starting with only nine in 2012, the city is on track to complete the renovation of 30 city squares and plazas by 2021. The first cycle network, completed in 2014, has led to a considerable increase in cycling.
But it is in the area of water management where Lisbon has seriously excelled. With an investment of more than half a billion euros since 2008 in its water and sewage management systems, the city now recycles more than 1.5 million cubic metres a year of waste water and provides the city with an alternate water supply for non-drinking purposes such as garden and park irrigation, road cleaning, vehicle washing and toilet flushing.
It also developed sewage treatment systems with 25pc spare capacity and reduced its treated water leakage rate to 8pc. Hi-tech treatment plants with advanced detection systems ensure any failures in the system do not result in contaminated supply.
Lisbon is also grappling with many of the same problems as Dublin and other Irish towns and cities.
Despite many initiatives to improve transportation and encourage more people to take up walking and cycling, the private car remains the most popular mode of transport and the major source of worsening traffic congestion.
In 2017 Lisbon launched a bike-sharing scheme, with electric bikes comprising two-thirds of the fleet to encourage cycling in the hillier parts of the city.
It has one of the world’s largest networks of electric vehicle charging points and 39pc of the municipal car fleet is electric and more recently 160 EVs have been procured by the municipality for a car-sharing scheme.
So what lessons are there for Ireland? Many would argue our response to the last recession was a missed opportunity to tackle climate breakdown. With another recession likely,
Lisbon illustrates how green initiatives can support economic recovery and enrich the lives of citizens.
Simple measures in place in the Portuguese capital, such as free public transport for children under 13 and adults over 65 and €1 a day fares to travel around the inner city on public transport should be introduced to Irish cities.
Lisbon’s success as a city has been to be both a smart and green city. Its smart city strategy has citizens and their needs at its very heart — but how likely could Dublin achieve the same?
The creation of a Smart Dublin programme by four Dublin local authorities in 2016 was a step in the right direction but water wastage, the issues with the Ringsend waste treatment plant and traffic congestion means there is little hope of it becoming a green city any time soon.
Successful water management is an essential cornerstone of any green policy. A decade since the bailout agreement of 2010 accelerated the introduction of household water charges, the debacle that followed inextricably linked water charges with austerity and is now political dynamite.
Today we have significant deficiencies in water management and efforts to tackle these have been hampered by the cynical politicisation of the issue by all political parties.
As a consequence of decades of under-investment, we waste about half of the treated water produced, though leakage and many coastal towns and cities are regularly subject to bathing bans following sewage contamination.
It is a damning indictment of us all and our politicians that we have failed to deliver a fit-for-purpose water infrastructure.
News that the political parties concerned have accepted the programme for government and that “a political crisis” has been averted will no doubt be met with relief by many but is unlikely to result in much headway in tackling our water management problems.
Instead of a decisive roadmap in the programme to address the challenges, we are left with lofty sentiments and vague plans to target the wells and septic tanks of rural Ireland.
No doubt the State will engage battalions of consultants to conduct another round of expensive ruminations on the issues with little progress being made.
Water charges may have been defeated by “people power” but it is ultimately we, the people, who have suffered with poor quality, occasionally harmful supplies and contaminated waterways and bathing areas.
A government committed to the environment must tackle water management.
‘Our response to recession was a missed opportunity’