Fontinha

A locality (sítio) in the town (vila) of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’), where there is a public fountain whose waters were analysed in 1893 at the École Nationale des Mines de Paris. The residue found in one litre of these waters weighed 1.728 g, of which silica accounted for 0.048 g, sodium carbonate, including the alkaline-earth carbonates, for 0.891 g, sodium sulphate for 0.290 g and sodium chloride for 0.490 g. According to the analyst of that school, the mineral water of Porto Santo may be classed among the bicarbonated and sodium-sulphated waters. The analysis revealed very little lime and magnesia, and also showed that almost all the carbonic acid of the bicarbonates is combined with the alkalis.

They are undisputedly regarded as excellent table waters, and today they are widely drunk in Madeira and also exported beyond the archipelago. In this locality there is a public fountain that supplies these waters to the public, as well as the building of the concessionary company, which prepares them and exports them from that island.