Desalination & Reuse Handbook - Flipbook - Page 15
THE YEAR IN SCARCITY
São Paulo (Brazil)
Tariffs
Tariffs in São Paulo have increased markedly since the
crisis of 2014/2015, rising by 30% in 2015 and continuing
a steep upward trajectory since then. In 2018, benchmark
water costs had risen to 150% of their 2012–14 levels,
as Sabesp attempted to manage demand and increase
revenues in order to finance measures to secure São
Paulo’s water future.
Legend
Fixed charges per month
Water: $6.49
Wastewater: $6.50
Sales tax
Water: 0
Wastewater: 0
Volumetric charges: increasing
Water: Block (m3)
0.0-10.0
10.0-20.0
20.0-50.0
>50.0
$/m3
0
1.02
2.54
2.8
Wastewater: Block (m3)
0.0-10.0
10.0-20.0
20.0-50.0
>50.0
$/m3
0
1.02
2.54
2.8
Benchmark tariff (15 m3/month)
Fixed water costs
Fixed wastewater costs
Variable water costs
Variable wastewater costs
$1.54/m³
0.43
0.34
0.43
0.34
Source: Global Water Leaders Group
Recognising the decreasing dependability of future rainfall, Sabesp, São Paulo’s water utility, has embarked on a campaign
of community engagement and continued infrastructure development to avoid a repeat of the 2014/15 crisis, and by 2017,
per capita water usage had fallen more than 14% on pre-crisis levels. This was achieved by a combination of rational use
awareness and reuse programmes targeting public, residential, and industrial users, alongside punitive tariffs for high use.
Whilst such programmes have been in place since the inauguration of the Rational Water Use Program in 1996, they were
accelerated during the crisis, and continue along more stringent lines today.
To reduce demand further, Sabesp plans to invest BRL162 million ($39 million) to install 160,000 new connections by the
end of 2018. The new connections will replace the illegal ‘gatos’ that supply 600,000 Paulistanos with water, reducing the
losses that occur through improvised connections. The connections made since March 2017 saved 3 million m3 of water
by that year’s end. Customers connected in the scheme get a safer, more reliable water supply, and are automatically billed
at the ‘social tariff’ of BRL8.19 ($1.96, one third of the normal tariff), for properties that consume up to 10 m³ per month.
The new connections also provide households with a residential address – a prerequisite for many social benefits and
citizenship conditions.
Other measures taken include BRL3.4 billion ($820 million) in investments to improve the city’s sewage infrastructure
and collection rate. With the installation of 221,800 new sewage connections, Sabesp aims to increase its wastewater
collection rate from 83% to 88% by 2022. Coupled with a tender launched in January 2017 for cleaning the Billings
reservoir – presently so badly polluted by raw sewage as to be unusable – improvements in sanitation have the potential to
guarantee a key water supply which will be instrumental in averting a crisis in the event of another drought.
Annual volumes stored in Cantareira system (2008–2015)
100
Storage of reservoirs (%)
With the urban Billings and Guarapiranga
reservoirs unusable due to pollution,
the rural Cantareira Water System (CWS)
became the largest single water source
for São Paulo, supplying 9 million people’s
needs. When several dry years reduced
levels in the CWS to below 20% between
2014 and 2015, the results were almost
catastrophic. $36 million was spent
accessing 400 million m3 in ‘dead volume’
- water stored below the level at which
regular pumps function - for the first time.
80
60
40
20
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Source: Urban water supply and the changes in the precipitation patterns in the
Metropolitan Area of Sao Paulo – Brazil (Lima et al., 2018)
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