The BiObserva programme is a further step in Viaqua’s commitment to conserving local biodiversity, starting with the natural environment at the centres it manages.

Thus, in February 2017, employees at the Santiago de Compostela and Pontevedra DWTPs received training from SEO Birdlife on collecting data on bird sightings, and throughout the year voluntary workers gathered their observations in a database available to the public at the programme’s website: www.biobserva.com.

The results reflect the participation of 8 volunteers in the programme, 21 days’ bird-watching and a total of 189 sightings: 26 species at the Pontevedra drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) and 36 at the Santiago de Compostela DWTP, the most frequent being: the house sparrow, white wagtail, common blackbird, magpie and Eurasian hoopoe.

In 2018 this programme will be organised at eight facilities, covering the treatment plants in the cities of Pontevedra and Santiago de Compostela, along with the two DWTPs in Ourense. At the first two plants, training for new volunteers and the winter bird census have already been organised.

All the information obtained at the sightings, together with the rest of the information from the 70 SUEZ Spain facilities participating in this environmental programme, will be included in studies by expert ornithologists from the Catalan Ornithological Institute (ICO) (such as atlases and the development of bioindicators). It will also be used to design and track environmental improvement measures at the plants.