Brazil Creates Water Fee to Pay for Sanitation

Brazil’s National Water Resource Council (CNRH), an organ linked to the Ministry of Environment, unanimously approved a resolution determining the collection of a fee for the use of water resources.

In accordance with the resolution, every segment of society that uses water from a specific hydrographic basin will pay a fee for this use.


The coverage of the measure ranges from the industrial sector to common citizens. Rates will be set by regional hydrographic basin committees, according to local needs.


The president of the Technical Chamber on Charging for the Use of Water Resources, Décio Michellis Júnior, says that the resolution will serve as a reference point for basins to define their own criteria for charges and investment.


“Without a doubt, the big investment deficit at present is in the area of environmental sanitation, not just to supply treated water and treat effluents and sewage, but for all the other environmental sanitation activities as well, such as solid wastes, garbage, streetcleaning, and tree trimming. These are investment priorities, without a doubt, but this will be defined by the basin committees,” Michellis explains.


The practice of charging for water use is already being applied in the Paraí­ba do Sul River basin region, which includes the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro.


The committee is the only one of the 100 existing committees that has begun to impose such charges. The National Water Agency (ANA) estimates that this year alone the fees collected in this basin should generate revenues on the order of US$ 4.4 million (R$ 12 million).


If the rates applied by the Paraí­ba do Sul committee are taken as a benchmark, the new assessment should represent, at most, a 2% increase in final consumers’ water bills.


Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Might Soon Have a Female President But There Are Still Too Few Women in Politics

In the coming October 3 presidential election, two of the three frontrunners are women. ...

Brazilian Economy is Winning for Marta in Sí£o Paulo

We’ve not heard much from Erundina (PSB) in the media recently. Probably because she’s ...

Ali Baba and His Forty Thieves Are Alive and Well in Brazil These Days

Though officially Brazil abides by the Gregorian calendar, New Year kicks in for most ...

Chinese, Africans and Brazilians Use Internet for Biotech Master’s

Tunisians, Moroccans and Brazilians are exchanging knowledge in biotechnology. The Federal University of Paraná ...

Itaparica, a Cozy Brazilian Island to Warm up in Winter

Are you stressed due to long working hours? Can’t you free your mind from ...

Sugar and Blood

The French and Dutch nearly went to war over a border dispute in South ...

In Brazil, TV Is Untouchable

We had a dramatic example of the incompetence of the Brazilian State in curbing ...

Father Vicenzo Ronchi, spiritual leader of Brazilian Catholic community in New York

How a New Priest and a Dying Woman Rallied New York’s Brazilian Community

Italian-born Father Vicenzo Ronchi is quite the character – he has a captivating personality, ...

Brazil Sets US$ 600 Million Apart to Reward Sustainable Agriculture

The Agriculture and Livestock Plan, launched this month by the Brazilian federal government, is ...

Brazil Surplus Over US$ 11 Billion

Last week Brazil exported US$ 1.726 billion and imported US$ 976 million, for a ...