Update from Justin
I apolgize for not writing more earlier; however, I cannot seem to find a free minute in any day and my Internet access has been somewhat hit and miss.
Brasil is a beautiful country. The landscape is beautiful, the shops are beautiful, the cuisine is beautiful, and, most importantly, the women are beautiful. ;) Moreover, it must be the friendliest country on Earth. So friendly, in fact, that at times it can quite exhausting trying to reciprocate the wonderful hospitality that we have received.
The State of Parana is served by a state-owned water and sewer utility, SANEPAR. At one point, several municipal utilities were acquired by a privately-owned French consortium. Service was unreliable and they had many infrastructure problems. A few years ago, the State of Parana acquired the utility and has made numerous investments in piping and treatment plants throughout the state. Given that the utility serves such a geographically-large area, it operates on both wells and surface water.
For the most part, the water treatment plants I have seen are similar in quality to those at home. However, some are better than others, with the larger ones appearing to produce the best quality of water. I have been drinking the water since I arrived, and have no stomach problems to report.
Since the utility is state-owned, there appear to be few economic development efforts undertaken by SANEPAR, as the State of Parana's economic development agency likely fills the role. This, however, is a disadvantage to the municipalities that must compete with one another for job creation, because the incentives come from the state level.
Sewer treatment, on the otherhand, is many, many years behind Fort Wayne. I certainly would not want to swim in the rivers after seeing the sewage treatment plants. They do no screening, so the solid matter goes directly into the digesters if it is not caught in a little 6' x 6' x 6' concrete basin. Basicially, a worker monitors the basin, and if he/she sees something large pass through, he/she will scoop it out with a contraption that looks somewhat like a swimming pool net. At one plant we visited, they found a fetus a few hours before our arrival.
As we were leaving the sewage plant, I asked the superintendent, "So what do you guys do about toilet paper that goes into the digesters?" He replied, "It is not customary in our culture to flush toilet paper, as the sewers cannot handle it. We simply place it in the trash can." Oops! If anyone hears of a major sewer backup in Brasil, it is likely my fault. Old habits are tough to break, and I'm not about to change - nor am I ready to look in the trash cans. And no, I have not tried the bedays (sp?).
Brasil is a beautiful country. The landscape is beautiful, the shops are beautiful, the cuisine is beautiful, and, most importantly, the women are beautiful. ;) Moreover, it must be the friendliest country on Earth. So friendly, in fact, that at times it can quite exhausting trying to reciprocate the wonderful hospitality that we have received.
The State of Parana is served by a state-owned water and sewer utility, SANEPAR. At one point, several municipal utilities were acquired by a privately-owned French consortium. Service was unreliable and they had many infrastructure problems. A few years ago, the State of Parana acquired the utility and has made numerous investments in piping and treatment plants throughout the state. Given that the utility serves such a geographically-large area, it operates on both wells and surface water.
For the most part, the water treatment plants I have seen are similar in quality to those at home. However, some are better than others, with the larger ones appearing to produce the best quality of water. I have been drinking the water since I arrived, and have no stomach problems to report.
Since the utility is state-owned, there appear to be few economic development efforts undertaken by SANEPAR, as the State of Parana's economic development agency likely fills the role. This, however, is a disadvantage to the municipalities that must compete with one another for job creation, because the incentives come from the state level.
Sewer treatment, on the otherhand, is many, many years behind Fort Wayne. I certainly would not want to swim in the rivers after seeing the sewage treatment plants. They do no screening, so the solid matter goes directly into the digesters if it is not caught in a little 6' x 6' x 6' concrete basin. Basicially, a worker monitors the basin, and if he/she sees something large pass through, he/she will scoop it out with a contraption that looks somewhat like a swimming pool net. At one plant we visited, they found a fetus a few hours before our arrival.
As we were leaving the sewage plant, I asked the superintendent, "So what do you guys do about toilet paper that goes into the digesters?" He replied, "It is not customary in our culture to flush toilet paper, as the sewers cannot handle it. We simply place it in the trash can." Oops! If anyone hears of a major sewer backup in Brasil, it is likely my fault. Old habits are tough to break, and I'm not about to change - nor am I ready to look in the trash cans. And no, I have not tried the bedays (sp?).
posted by Doug Risser at 2:34 PM
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