By Michael Pooler and Carolina Pulice
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This was laid bare when the region’s worst drought in 80 years resulted in severe water shortages between 2014 and 2015. Sporadic outages in parts of the city sparked protests, as well as fears that reserves might run out. Since then, the utility Sabesp — which serves 28m residents in the greater São Paulo area and eponymous state — has undertaken a range of measures and investments with the aim of avoiding a repeat episode.
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To increase its resilience, Sabesp has also invested in schemes to boost the supply of water to the metropolitan region. Already planned before the crisis, works were accelerated on the flagship R$2.2bn ($405m) São Lourenço production system, built through a public-private partnership. It transports water from a reservoir 83km away, via a treatment plant, to around 2m residents in the west of São Paulo. Other actions taken by Sabesp include clamping down on theft, fixing leaky pipes, cleaning contaminated rivers and planting trees in areas adjoining the Cantareira reservoir network.
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