The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) held today, in São Paulo, the Water Forum 2016. The event aimed to discuss the main challenges faced by the business sector in the management of water resources, as well as successful strategies to overcome them.
The panels addressed the following topics: green infrastructure; reuse and reduction of losses in distribution and the role of the financial sector to leverage the most efficient solutions. “It is urgent that solutions to control and mitigate water risks are adopted by an increasing number of users. In line with the celebrations of World Water Day, the Water Forum promoted a series of discussions and reflections to deepen knowledge about the different solutions to address the issues of water scarcity and loss of quality, also considering the financial aspect and the role of investors”, says Marina Grossi, president of CEBDS.
Green infrastructure, or natural infrastructure, is also seen as one of the solutions that contributes to the conservation of ecosystem services, particularly for the process of recharging aquifers and filtering water, contributing to better quality and availability conditions in river basins, thus helping to reduce costs and operational risks for companies. “Initiatives to reduce water use permeate our production chain from end to end. Thanks to this intense work, we have already reduced water consumption by more than 40.8% since 2002, but since 2010 we have also been working to conserve basins in several cities in Brazil,” said Simone Veltri, Ambev’s socio-environmental relations manager.
Distribution losses are a chronic problem in Brazil and represent approximately 37% of treated water per year. These losses are due not only to failures in the distribution network, but also to unbilled water, the so-called “gatos”. In this sense, investments in infrastructure can reduce these losses, generating greater revenue for companies, especially those in the sanitation sector, as well as contributing to reducing the risk of shortages.
“Braskem, together with SANASA, launched the Movement for Reducing Losses in Water Distribution, which aims to combat the loss of treated water throughout the distribution systems. This initiative is aligned with the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) – Water and basic sanitation: ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The most specific challenge for this movement, which the Brazilian Global Compact Network is joining, is to meet goal 4 of this goal 6, which establishes the year 2030 as the deadline to substantially increase the efficiency of water use,” said Mario Pino, Braskem’s Sustainable Development Manager. Furthermore, he highlighted the company's reuse percentage last year “was 25.1%, equivalent to the use of 16.6 million m³/year of reused water, a consumption equivalent to that of a city with around 440 thousand inhabitants per year, and we intend to maximize the use of reused water for industrial purposes, aiming to reach a reuse rate of 40% by 2020”, reported Pino.
Today, reuse is increasingly relying on infrastructure investments by companies, as it contributes to reducing the collection of treated water, generating savings and minimizing risks during shortages, both from an operational point of view and from the point of view of conflicts with society. However, there is still a great lack of legal standards to encourage reuse, as well as financial products that benefit companies that invest in this practice. There is also a lack of greater regulation on the various uses for these waters. These factors are important to allow the development of a consolidated market for reused water.
“It is necessary to create a state policy that truly encourages water reuse. In Brazil, the activity is not yet regulated and there are no established quality standards to be followed. What exists are only guidelines and initiatives at state and municipal levels that encourage it,” highlighted Ruddi de Souza, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies.
The discussions were moderated by journalist Flávia Oliveira, a commentator for Globonews and a columnist for the newspaper O Globo. The event was also attended by the president of the World Water Council, Benedito Braga; the general manager of coordination and communication at the National Water Agency (ANA), Antônio Félix Domingues; and the deputy secretary of sanitation and water resources for the state of São Paulo, Monica Porto. It was sponsored by Ambev, Brasken and Veolia.
