Brazil’s Paraopeba River Cleanup Project Moves Forward

Brazil’s international affairs department SAIN is taking charge of the approval process for the Minas Gerais state utility Copasa’s project to clean up the Paraopeba River basin.

The project includes construction of collector pipelines and wastewater treatment plants in cities along the banks of the Paraopeba basin, and construction of sludge treatment units at water treatment facilities in Betim and Juatuba.

The other two stages will involve installation of a biogas-to-energy system for the Betim wastewater treatment facility and another in Ibirité, as well as an integrated watershed protection system to promote environmental preservation and awareness in communities along the Paraopeba River.

German development bank KfW is expected to sign a financial deal worth €100m with Copasa by the end of May 2011 to finance the project.

Copasa will invest €20m in counterpart funds for the cleanup programme, which has been divided into four parts.