Page 38 - Respond 2022 Magazine

From waste

to resource

GENERAL WATER

How General Water is extracting Brazil´s water availability is amongst Seeking to tackle this major problem,
value from sewage in Brazil the largest in the world. However, the General Water was founded 20 years ago
vast majority of these resources are and has, relentlessly, been developing
concentrated in the Northern region of the low carbon and environmentally friendly
country, more than 3,000 kilometres away wastewater treatment and water recycling
from the nation´s largest cities. solutions.

The São Paulo Metropolitan area, home to As of today, General Water is responsible for
more than 21 million people, has a water treating and recycling more than 140 million
availability of 130 annual cubic meters per litres of wastewater every month, which is
inhabitant, according to the State´s Hydric the equivalent water usage of more than
1
Resources Committee . This is equivalent 32,000 people.
to some of the most water stressed areas in
the world, like Israel or Singapore . It is also This translates into an enormous amount
2
less than 10% of the water scarcity threshold of fresh water that is saved and millions of
of 1,700 cubic metres per person per year, litres of sewage being recycled, instead of
according to the United Nations . 3 being discharged into rivers or the sea.

To make matters worse, climate change has Imagine being one of the largest shopping
already transformed the pattern of rainfall malls in South America, with more than 2
in most of Brazil´s largest cities and the million visitors each month and the water
country has been facing long periods of consumption of a small city. Now imagine
below average rainfall and unprecedented being able to reduce your drinking water
droughts. intake by half and the sewage discharge by
90%, while taking up only 180 square metres
The consequence? One water crisis after of your valuable footprint. It almost seems
another. too good to be true, but this is a real

One of General Water´s wastewater treatment
plants, responsible for producing 9,000 cubic
meters of recycled water each month.

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