CONNECTING BASIN COMMUNITIES AND INNOVATIVE WATER POLICIES
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RECOMMENDATIONS
START WITH WATER
The “Year 2000 Campaign: Ecological Redemption of Piracicaba River” was launched in 1985, and created the Inter-municipal Consortium of Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiai River Basins (PCJ Consortium). As water pollution affected all towns, regional action was required and the watershed was collectively considered in the Consortium’s planning activities. Financial resources were required for the recovery of the rivers and Piracicaba was the first to launch a voluntary water charge in 1999. This led to the creation of a mandatory charge in 2006 in all of the PCJ Basins, and the collected resources allowed the 76 towns within these basins to increase their waste treatment from 3% to 75%. The region became the national cradle of good water resources management practices, highlighting how to solve a chronic issue through initiatives and actions in partnership with public institutions and organizations, while ensuring economic and water sustainability for the communities involved. The PCJ Consortium fueled the creation of São Paulo State’s Water Resources Policy in 1991, and the national equivalent in 1997. These were leading actions in the country and supported the foundation of Brazil’s first River Basin Committee, which took further inspiration from the good practices developed in Piracicaba on waste treatment and fish population restoration.
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Located in eastern São Paulo State, the city of Piracicaba sits on the banks of the Piracicaba River and is home to around 400,000 people. In the 1950s, numerous gilded catfish (Zungaro zungaro) were found dead at Cachoeira do Mirante waterfall as a result of river pollution. The site is the main tourist attraction in the town and the community created a municipal council to find solutions to the poor water quality of the river. Although vinasse (a byproduct of the sugarcane industry) was originally thought to be the source of the pollution, it was discovered that other industries and discharged untreated domestic waste were also polluting the water.
REMOVING BARRIERS: WATER-SENSITIVE NATIONAL AND URBAN PLANNING
A story from Piracicaba (São Paulo), Brazil