Brazil: water reuse poses an opportunity in times of crisis

Brazilian water companies that provide treated water for reuse are seeing numerous opportunities in these times of economic turbulence as they can attract big corporations by offering 30-50% cost reductions for services, the association of state sanitation companies Aesbe said in a release.

“Treated water for reuse costs about 8% of the conventional rate,” the president of São Paulo state water utility Sabesp, Gesner Oliveira, told BNamericas.  “Treated water can be used to irrigate crops such as coffee and corn, to wash vehicles and streets, to fight fires, among other activities,” Oliveira added. In spite of the advantages, market estimates have shown that currently only 2% of companies reuse water in Brazil.

Only 50% of Sabesp’s treated water is being commercialized. “Our wastewater treatment plant has a capacity to produce 320,000m3/month of water for reuse. Of this total, approximately 160,000m3/m is being sold commercially,” Oliveira said.

Read more: BNamericas [subscription site], 05 Mar 2009