Depollution of Guanabara Bay should be delayed by 2 years – 12/25/2023 – Environment

The executive projects delivered by the company Águas do Rio to the regulatory agency for the basic sanitation concession in Rio de Janeiro foresee a delay of two years in the completion of works to clean up Guanabara Bay.

The schedules delivered work within a period of five years after the projects are approved by the agency, which would lead to the completion of the interventions in December 2028 or later, and not August 2026, as initially planned at the time of the bidding. They will still be subjected to analysis by advisors from Agenersa (Energy and Basic Sanitation Regulatory Agency).

In a statement, Águas do Rio stated that it “reinforces its commitment to complying with all deadlines and commitments set out in the contract”. The agency stated that it is within the deadline for analyzing the executive projects and that part of the work has already started.

The new Guanabara Bay depollution project was launched with the concession of basic sanitation services from Rio de Janeiro. The tender included an investment of R$2.7 billion for the construction of structures to stop the dumping of sewage into the rivers that flow into the bay, called dry weather collectors.

The tender specifications established that the implementation of the collectors should take place within the first five years of the concession contract, which began in August 2021. The document also established the time for the projects to be processed within the agency.

The executive projects were expected to be approved in March 2022. However, due to delays within Agenersa, they have not yet been evaluated.

The schedules delivered by Águas do Rio to the agency in October, however, consider the approval of executive projects as the start of the count. They define a period of five years from the approval of the counselors for the completion of all necessary interventions.

Agenersa’s advisors have not yet approved the project — and may determine changes. The new deadline for analysis was December 20th, but the evaluation of the drawings was not included in the agenda for this month’s session. Agency technicians pointed out doubts regarding some data presented by the company.

According to the projects, the first work fronts will focus on Complexo da Maré, a group of favelas located next to a treatment plant to which it is not connected. The city of Mesquita will also have the works completed in the first year of intervention — in the Chatuba neighborhood, they have already started.

The total cost of the works, after detailing the drawings, was equal to that estimated by the state: R$2.7 billion. According to the schedules, the main investments are concentrated in the last three years of work.

Despite the delay in starting the construction of dry weather collectors, investments already made by Águas do Rio have improved the quality of the waters on the beaches of Guanabara Bay.

Among the main interventions is the diversion of the Carioca River to the submarine outfall. This significantly reduced the dumping of polluted water on Flamengo beach, which this year had the longest sequence of bathing periods since 2016.

However, it is the dry weather collectors that will definitively prevent the dumping of pollution throughout Guanabara Bay. They will also improve the quality of the waters of the rivers that flow there, which to date remain at the same level of pollution as before the concession, according to monitoring by the Guanabara Bay Hydrographic Basin Committee.

The possible delay in the works is another chapter in the project to clean up the bay, which has lasted more than 40 years.

Águas do Rio states that it will meet contract deadlines

The concessionaire Águas do Rio stated, in a note, that it “reinforces its commitment to complying with all deadlines and commitments set out in the contract”.

The company did not explain in its position the contradictions between the schedules delivered to Agenersa and the deadlines defined in the contract.

“The concessionaire is already working on the recovery of Guanabara Bay, preventing 43 million liters of sewage per day from polluting the ecosystem. The result is the recovery of historically polluted beaches like Flamengo, not to mention the universalization in Paquetá and improvements on several beaches in the island”, says the concessionaire.

Agenersa stated, in a note, that the analysis of the executive projects is within the expected deadlines. He highlighted that they can only be approved after approval from the independent certifier hired to support the body’s analysis.

“Currently, these projects are in the analysis phase by the independent certifier. However, it is essential to highlight that their approval is conditional on obtaining the necessary environmental licenses,” said the agency.

“Those dry weather collector projects that have already obtained licenses from the State Institute of the Environment (Inea) and were submitted to the relevant agency have already started work and others are scheduled to begin in 60 days.”