92577
Improving Water Supply and Sanitation in Sao Paulo                                                  December 13, 2005
Sao Paulo Water Quality and Pollution Control Project ‘Programa Guarapiranga’

In urban areas of Brazil, such as São Paulo,               President Wolfowitz visits the
growing slums are major contributors to the                Guarapiranga project - Dec. 15, 2005
pollution of water sources. Over the last three             Photos | Video
decades, the strategic location of the Guarapiranga
                                                           President Wolfowitz visits Brazil
river basin – close to the vibrant employment              Full coverage
opportunities of São Paulo city – has led to an
increased number of informal settlements and an
explosion in the basin’s population from around
330,000 in 1980 to some 750,000 in 2000, of which          ALSO: 
over 100,000 live in slums.                                The World Bank's work in Latin America
                                                            & the Caribbean in
These slum dwellers, living on public land and               Water & Sanitation Supply
                                                             Urban Development 
irregular plots, tend to concentrate in precarious,
flood-prone areas in the basin, and have no
appropriate infrastructure for water supply,
sewerage, drainage and solid waste management.
Their domestic waste therefore contributes directly
to the pollution of the water reservoir.

This is why in the 1990s the World Bank decided to
support the State of São Paulo with a project that
sought to guarantee the Guarapiranga Reservoir as
a reliable water source, capable of supplying some
3 million people in the metropolitan area of São
Paulo, by:

       developing capabilities to manage the water         Financing
       basin in an environmentally sustainable
                                                           Total cost : $338.60 million
       manner;
                                                           IBRD loan amount: $199 million
                                                           Funding from the State of São Paulo:
       improving the quality of life of  550,000           $219.6 million
       inhabitants through the rehabilitation and
                                                           Implementing agencies:
       expansion of sanitary infrastructure , solid
                                                           State Water Company (SABESP); State
       waste collection and drainage; and                  Housing and Urban Development
                                                           Company; State Secretariat for the
       containing inappropriate settlements and            Environment; São Paulo Municipality
       promoting land use compatible with
       environmental conservation.                         More details

                                                             Full project information & documents
Some of the results of the Guarapiranga Project
include: 

       8,050 new connections to the existing
       sewerage system and 41,000 connections
       prepared for the new sewerage system;

       2,674 families at risk (13,370 people)
       resettled out of the basin in new housing ;

       17, 359 families (86,797 people) benefited
       from upgraded housing and improved
       quality of life; and

       38,200 families (191,000 people) benefited
       from infrastructure improvements.
                          

                          

                          

                          

                          

                          

                          

                          

                          
Updated: December 2005