PROJECT STORY
The challenge
Pollution caused by population growth and industrialization banned trade and leisure activities at the river. In the 1990's the state embarked on an ambitious river clean-up project.
Tietê River Project
Clean water at the Tiete River
The solution
For over 3 decades, solutions evolved: regular Design/Project Management activities started also counting on digital tools, such as dashboards to control program performance
The impact
Infrastructure to safely treat the sewage generated by 19 million inhabitants and significantly improve the health and quality of the river
+ 19 million people
benefit by sewage treatment systems
US$5 billions
investment in 25 years
84% of sewage
produced treated
The challenge
Good sanitary conditions are imperative for good quality of life. Polluted water can cause waterbone diseases and increase child mortality risks, to name some of the consequences to people not relying on clean water and appropriate sewage treatment. Latin America's rivers are some of the most polluted in the world and 70% of wastewater (according to The World Bank) reaches rivers untreated.
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Back in 1990, the Tiete river was suffering a dramatic consequence of the rapid urbanization, industrialization, population growth leading to illegal occupation of land in the city: a subsequent increase in the amount of untreated sewage finding its way into the river. There was a strong need to act.
The solution
1990s: that was when the long term relationship Sabesp (São Paulo State Sanitation Company) / Arcadis started. Aiming to protect citizens in São Paulo from the adversities caused by polluted waters, and focusing on sustainability aspects, the Tiete Project was created.
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Set into four stages over 25 years, it has a total investment is a projected $5 billion USD. Since the first stage of the project, Arcadis has been the consultant and technical advisor to the company behind the project, Sabesp. In the third stage, as head of the consortium, Arcadis has helped Sabesp deliver the infrastructure to improve the quality of the water by connecting an additional 200,000 households to the sewer system and increasing the volume of sewage treated from 66% to 84%.
Our approach to support client challenges has also evolved throughout all those decades: starting with the delivery of services including Waste Water Treatment Plants, as one of the products. Year by year, following the evolution, solutions implemented also included, digital tools, such as dashboards controlling the program performance.
The impact
The Tietê river project is a vital step for improving the quality of life in for every resident in the city and sets the stage for a sustainable future. Once fully completed, the infrastructure will be able to safely treat the sewage generated by 19 million residents and significantly improve the health and quality of the river.
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Managing this important resource, serving more people for longer, is an ongoing challenge. Results so far include sewage collection and treatment to more than 11 million people in São Paulo,1.8 million household sewage connections and the installation of 4.5 thousand kilometers of interceptors, trunk collectors and networks to collect and transport sewage from the metropolis to treatment plants, whose installed treatment capacity was tripled, from 8,500 liters per second in 1992 to the current 26,000 liters per second. With the advancement of the collection and transportation structure, the effective treatment jumped, in the same period, from 4,000 liters per second to the current 20,600 liters per second.
Above all, it is a public health program: the implementation and improvement of sewage collection systems contributes to the reduction of infant mortality rates and improves quality of life of citizens.
