Governor João Doria (PSDB), about to leave office for the presidential race, announced this Thursday (24) the progress in cleaning up the Pinheiros River and the start of works on the São Paulo Plant (formerly Usina da Traição), which it is on the course of the water body, considered by the state administration as a new postcard for the capital.
“This was a fetid river, a river that was a bad reference for São Paulo and for Brazil. Today it has become a reference for leisure, entertainment, environmental respect, for the recovery of a river for the recovery of its water and for the depollution of the river,” said Doria.
Depollution goes hand in hand with the connection of sewage to the treatment network. The government claims that R$ 4 billion were invested and more than 555,000 water and sewage connections were made. “It’s as if we took the city of Porto Alegre and did all the sanitation in the city,” said the governor.
According to the state government, of the 13 monitoring points on the Pinheiros River, 11 have BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) — an indicator of water quality — below 30 mg/L.
This value, however, is far from anything close to a clean river in fact. In fact, values at this level, as the government itself points out, only guarantee odor-free water, improvements in turbidity and the capacity of some aquatic life.
But, in fact, some improvements have been observed with the decades of work to clean up the Tietê-Pinheiros river system. This can be seen more closely at the lake in Ibirapuera Park, which is fed by the Sapateiro stream, part of this system. The water quality of the lake has improved (from regular to good) thanks to the cleaning of the rivers.
Gustavo Veronesi, coordinator of the Observando os Rios project, from the NGO SOS Mata Atlântica, recently told sheet that the quality of the water in Pinheiros is “terrible and it will take a long time to get bad”.
Waters with BOD above 10 mg/L (such as those from the Pinheiros River) cannot be destined for, basically, any human use.
Doria hopes that this will change and already plans to use the river for boat presentations, sailing competitions and for river transport.
Bathing in the river, however, is not a reality even for the long term. “Bathing in the Pinheiros River is as unlikely as bathing in the River Thames [em Londres] or on the River Seine in Paris,” said Doria.
São Paulo power plant
The Usina São Paulo project is a bet to give a new life to the river. The declared inspiration for the project is Puerto Madero, in Buenos Aires. The idea is that the former power plant will be a cultural and gastronomic hub open 24 hours a day.
According to Doria, with a private investment of R$ 1 billion, the place will have restaurants, viewpoint, stores, gyms and offices. The investment comes from the Usina São Paulo SPE SA consortium, which won the concession for the site —which lasts until 2042— and is formed by the companies Kallis Administração e Participações Eireli, Nacional Shopping Planejamentos and Reestruturação de Shopping Center Ltda. and Concessões e Participações BR Ltda.
The works on the plant are expected to be delivered in three phases. The completion of the first, concentrated on the plant itself, with works on the facade, installation of restaurants on top of the building, parking and elevators (which will eventually provide a connection between the two banks of the river), is scheduled for the second half of the year. next.
The second phase concerns the renovation of access walkways and completion is scheduled for the end of 2024. The third would be the commercial development of the river banks and its completion is estimated only for the end of 2025.
Next to the plant, Doria mentioned the Bruno Covas linear park, which is on the banks of the river and is crossed by a bike path. The former mayor died of cancer in 2021, during his term.
On site, so far, there is a playground and the Morumbi Living Center. According to the government, the work on basketball courts, beach tennis, volleyball, soccer, a floating viewpoint and the access walkway are in the finishing phase.
