São Paulo’s Pinheiros River Clean-up
Restoring dignity and reviving dreams lost to previous generations
When Irene Angelo da Silva arrived in São Paulo neighborhood Vila das Pratas 37 years ago, she moved into a shack with her husband on the edge of the Zavuvus stream with an open sewer. They would raise their three children next to the stream, where the smell of sewage was unbearable.
That same neighborhood in the southern part of Brazil’s biggest city she now considers "a paradise" after it underwent a major transformation since what she first saw in the 1980s.
The Vila das Pratas community is part of the Cidade Ademar district, which has one of the lowest Human Development Index scores in the city.
In an investment of more than $330 million, the Novo Rio Pinheiros program cleaned up the river that runs through 25 kilometers of the city of São Paulo. The program began with the Zavuvus stream, next to a road that carries more than 350,000 vehicles a day and the city’s first entry point to the Pinheiros River.
More than 7,000 homes in the region now have basic sanitation, and the residents can explore new sources of income and experiences with family members. The São Paulo State Government was responsible for the clean-up program, which was coordinated by the Department of Infrastructure and Environment and executed by the São Paulo State Basic Sanitation Company (Sabesp) with financial support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The work to clean the river up began in 2019. By the end of 2022, a 280-kilometer sewage network had been installed, and two million residents stopped dumping sewage in the Pinheiros River. Along the Zavuvus stream alone, 173,000 residents of southern communities benefited from the sewage-free water. For people like Irene, the unhealthy open sewer is now a thing of the past.
"My children didn't have a childhood, my grandchildren now do," says Irene, who is 54. Of the more than 650,000 properties, directly and indirectly, benefiting from the Novo Rio Pinheiros program, 7,800 are in Vila das Pratas, where about 25,000 people live. Irene is not only celebrating opening her new business but also the fact that she can cook without the smell of sewage and that her grandchildren can play safely.
Irene celebrates the thought that the trauma her children suffered has been left behind.
"On weekends, when my children were not in daycare, they were locked inside the house. I was afraid to go out to the street market, to church, or to visit an aunt who lived further away, afraid of them falling into the stream. Even riding a bike, my daughter fell into the stream and everyone laughed at her," Irene recalls.
The surroundings of Irene's house began to change ten years ago with the canalization of the stream in a partnership organized by community leader Daniel dos Reis with the sub-prefecture of the region. This, she says, got all the residents involved.
Despite these developments, it was only in 2019 when the Novo Rio Pinheiros program launched that the family began to reap the benefits of living in a house with basic sanitation.
The program, which has the support from IFC – the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries, managed basic sanitation work, the collection of sewage in communities, and the cleaning of 25 streams that run into the Pinheiros River.
The benefits of the project go beyond improving the quality of access to water and sewage for the community and cleaning the Pinheiros River. Improved infrastructure also impacts poverty reduction, public health, and care for the environment of the city as a whole.
The program has also enabled a new source of income revenue through the Women of Sanitation project, which hired women who lived in the benefitted communities for environmental awareness efforts during the project. Waste picker cooperatives, who received training as well as protective and safety equipment, also saw an increase in their incomes with the social actions that were part of the clean-up program.
With the completion of the clean-up, the riverbank is more pleasant and attracts additional leisure and tourism activities. Now bikers who ride along the 21-kilometer bike path benefit from the cleaner air.
The program’s goal to ensure that biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) does not exceed 30 mg/l has been reached throughout the Zavuvus stream, which runs for 7.8 kilometers, according to a 2022 survey. BOD is one of the main indexes of organic pollution assessment and simply evaluates how the river is "breathing" on its surface.
Today, Irene lives with her husband at the same address she moved to 37 years ago, but in a house built with bricks, dreams, and hard work.
Her three adult children — one woman and two men — and grandchildren live nearby in Vila das Pratas. At Grandma Irene's house, there is space, comfort, and food for family get-togethers.
"On Sundays, I was too embarrassed to invite my aunts and cousins who live far away for lunch at my house. I make delicious food, but it was the smell of sewage in the house that was unbearable. After the clean-up, my house really smells good. I make food and can invite my whole family over," says Irene.
With her street paved and her house served by indoor plumbing, Irene opened her own business after losing her job in 2020. An unimaginable dream many years ago, she now has a restaurant in her garage.
Irene sells drinks, snacks, and desserts to neighbors, who are usually out in the street on weekends. "My new business complements our household income and helps my husband, who works as a doorman. I work because I also like to have my money."
The river is home
Even living far from the banks of the Pinheiros River, Irene feels responsible for its cleaning and maintenance. She sees the river as an extension of her home.
"Today I see the river is clean, no dirt, no stench. We even see little fish. We didn't see that in the old days because of the pollution. So, I always say, when someone picks up trash, don't throw it in the river, or storm drains. Garbage clogs them up and harms our community and the Pinheiros River," says Irene.
Her clean, green inclination to pick up trash reflects awareness-raising projects related to the Novo Rio Pinheiros program. Since 2019, Vila das Pratas has seen educational efforts such as the installation of a library built from a refrigerator and reading projects for children, organized by the coordinator of social and environmental projects of the Zavuvus project.
Residents of the Sao Paulo neighborhood Vila das Pratas
Residents of the Sao Paulo neighborhood Vila das Pratas
Plans for the future
"I hope the children continue to get books and the soccer field is fixed up. My children and neighbors like to play soccer and the pitch is a place where they can have fun," says the resident of Vila das Pratas.
One of Irene's sons, Luiz Fernando da Silva, cites his son Bryan as an example of the community’s potential: "My son's dream is to be a soccer player, which I couldn't be because there was nowhere for us to play. Today the projects have improved the neighborhood and I can help him."
Among all the benefits basic sanitation has offered her and her family, Irene appreciates the possibilities and dreams in her neighborhood.
"Now we live in a decent place. What my children didn't have then, my grandchildren will have. They have it already. For the future, I want my grandchildren to go to university, to study, and when their children are born, things are going to be even better," Irene says.
In addition to her love for and dedication to her family, Irene makes a point of recognizing the work done by community leader Daniel dos Reis. For her, all the community’s achievements are the result of Daniel's struggle.
"Daniel has been with us, fighting for our community since it rained and flooded the stream with nowhere for it to drain. We owe a lot to his work," Irene says.
Daniel dos Reis, 57, has been the community leader in Vila das Pratas since he was 15.
Community leader Daniel dos Reis
Daniel dos Reis
"For us leaders, this work is a victory because the residents will no longer have that bad smell at home, children will no longer live next to an open stream, and there is no longer any flooding," Reis says.
He adds that in one of the floods, they had to knock down a wall at the entrance to the community to let the water out.
After the work, Daniel and the residents are no longer afraid that the water from the stream and sewage will flood their homes when it rains. Everyone is now healthier and has a better quality of life.
"We want what is happening here in the Vila das Pratas community to be an example for other communities. What I have to say to the other community leaders is that they must believe in their struggle. Only fighting changes life," says Reis.
Dancing again
Exactly two kilometers from Irene’s house, the Novo Rio Pinheiros program has brought back dance floors for the elderly in Vila Joaniza — another community along the Zavuvus stream.
One community leader, Terezinha Souza Dantas, successfully applied for a program to fix up the Vila Joaniza association, which serves hundreds of seniors per month with dances, crafts, English lessons, and literacy classes.
The space, once ruined by leaks in "walls falling apart and hideous bathrooms," as the community leader says, was fixed up over one year and today revives these services for the people who attend, and for Terezinha.
On Saturdays, the association now has senior dance classes again.
“We couldn't have them before because it was too leaky. There was a lady who said we should put umbrellas up. After the work, we have dance class every Saturday, and the space and senior activities are back," says Terezinha.
The Novo Rio Pinheiros program has also improved attendance by the Vila Joaniza association’s students. Previously, the students missed classes when it rained because they could not cross the flooded stream.
"Today our students are no longer missing classes and they can get here because there is no more flooding in the region, especially of the Zavuvus stream," Terezinha says.
Terezinha, who has been with the association since the 1990s and became a leader in 2014, knows caring for the community keeps her going. "I take care of others and end up taking care of myself," she says.
This story was published in March 2023.
Photos and videos provided by IFC.