Brazil to Spend $15.2 Billion to Ensure Universal Water Access: Rousseff
7 Mar 2013 - 01:00 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
Brazil, BRASILIA — The Brazilian government will invest some $15.2 billion USD to provide universal access to drinking water in the country, President Dilma Rousseff announced this week.
Eighty percent of the $15.2 billion USD will be used for water infrastructure projects through the national Growth Acceleration Program (PAC 2). The remaining 20 percent will go to the country’s Water for All program, Rousseff said during a March 5 radio interview.
Rousseff had just visited the $507 million USD Acauã-Araçagi Canal project in Paraiba state.
“Works in Paraiba state are a symbol of the importance and the priority that the federal government gives to water management,” she said.
She also cited projects in other regions, including the Vertentes Litorâneas Canal project, which will manage the waters of the São Francisco River and distribute them throughout 38 municipalities; the Ceará Fortaleza water system, which will divert water to Fortaleza to prevent the collapse of water supply in the area; and the Bahia Cotton Water System which benefits over 100,000 irrigation users in the Guanambi area.
Rousseff noted that during last year’s drought, the government had spent over $2.8 billion USD for emergency programs.
Speaking about the country’s small-scale agricultural producers working in semi-arid areas, Rousseff insisted “they must have water.”
