Water management project in Minas Gerais is already an example for more than 400 cities

In a small town in Minas Gerais, a water conservation model can point the way to a more sustainable future – with water availability for all.

This is the case of “Water Conservationist” a project in the municipality of Extrema (MG), with just over 50 thousand inhabitants. The initiative transformed a pasture area into conservation in a joint effort between the Public Authorities and specialized agents.

“Planting programs to conserve water sources in particular was fundamental for the economic development of the municipality of Extrema, based on the environmental services provided by nature,” he says. Paulo Henrique Pereira, creator of the Water Conservationist.

The project works as follows: the seedlings are grown at the Project headquarters. They are then planted in conservation and reforestation areas. In a completely manual process, an average of 700 to 1,000 seedlings are planted per day. In total, more than 3 million trees have been planted in the almost 25 years since the project began. Considered a cutting-edge project, the environmental management model has now been replicated in 400 municipalities.

And in a rural area with many springs, the preservation of the system ends up impacting large cities like São Paulo. This is because the springs of Extrema, located in the Serra da Mantiqueira, feed almost 70% of the Cantareira system, the main supply system for the São Paulo metropolis.

The reporter Renan Fiuza visited the “Water Conservationist” project in a report for the CNN Sustainability whose program theme was the water crisis in Brazil. The CNN Sustainability and is presented by anchor Marcio Gomes and by Climate and Environment analyst, Pedro Côrtes.

Every day, a volume of 7.3 billion m³ of water is lost in Brazil, the equivalent of eight thousand Olympic swimming pools. On average, 40% of all treated water in the country is wasted. The data is from the Trata Brasil Institute.

And the project goes against the statistics, involving the entire chain, from the seedling sowers to the rural producers, who benefit from more irrigated and fertile land.

“At the beginning of the project in 2005, when we thought about rural landowners producing environmental services for society, it made a lot of sense to us. Because in addition to all the food we consume in the city, we also consume environmental services,” adds Paulo Henrique Pereira.

CNN Sustainability – Saturdays at 10:45 pm and Sundays at 6:45 pm (alternative time) on CNN Brasil