page_title: Water management in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo
section_title: Water challenges
hierarchical_section_title: Water management in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo / Water challenges
caption_attribution_description: English: São Paulo satellite image, Landsat-5 2010-04-18, near natural colors, resolution 30 m Used images id LT52190772010108CUB00 and LT52190762010108CUB00
context_page_description: Water management in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, Brazil faces several challenges, including pollution of drinking water reservoirs that are surrounded by slums, water scarcity leading to conflicts with the Campinas Metropolitan area to the north, inefficient water use, and flooding. The sprawling Metropolitan Region of São Paulo with close to 20 million people is the seventh most populous urban area in the world and the economic, financial and technical hub of Brazil. The main stakeholders in water management in MRSP are the state government, the state water and sanitation utility Sabesp and 39 municipal governments. A basin committee for the Alto Tietê basin, which covers the entire area of the MRSP and supplies half of its water, brings together all stakeholders. It has drawn up two master plans for the management of water resources in the basin. The first was approved in 2003 and focused on urban sprawl. The second was approved in 2009 and focused on water use conflicts.
  Together the stakeholders have addressed the challenges mentioned above through massive investments in wastewater collection and treatment and slum upgrading.
context_section_description: The major water challenges in the MRSP are pollution of drinking water reservoirs that are surrounded by built-up areas including slums, water scarcity and conflicts, inefficient water use, and flooding.
  Access to water supply and sanitation, as well as service quality for users, are not among the major water challenges in MRSP. It has relatively high coverage rates compared to other urban areas in Brazil: In 2004, 98.4 percent of the population had access to water through internal plumbing and 81.2 percent of the population had adequate sanitation. In general, water supply is continuous.
caption: Satellite picture of São Paulo showing the Billing and Guarapiranga reservoirs completed surrounded by built-up areas.
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