The Cantareira System, which supplies around 7 million people in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, officially started to operate in the warning strip. This Saturday (2), the reservoir level is at 39.5% of capacity. The situation does not foresee any change in the operation.
There are, in all, five bands defined by the National Water Agency (ANA), which guide the limits for withdrawing water from the system. The alert range is defined when the system has accumulated useful volume equal to or greater than 30% and less than 40%.
For framing the bands, ANA considers the last day of the previous month. On June 30, Cantareira accumulated 39.7%. It was on June 28 that the system reached 40% and has been falling ever since.
According to Sabesp, the company is currently withdrawing 22 m³/s, lower than the maximum authorized limit of 27 m³/s. The company points out that this is possible “thanks to the integration with other systems”.
The range following the alert is the restriction range when the accumulated useful volume is equal to or greater than 20% and less than 30%. In the normal range, Sabesp can remove 33 m³/s. The most restrictive range is the special one, when the withdrawal limit is 15.5 m³/s.
In a note, Sabesp informed that there is no risk of shortages at this time in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, but “guides the conscious use of water, at any time and in all the municipalities where it operates”.
The company also highlighted that Cantareira is part of the Integrated Metropolitan System, which is composed of six other water sources: Alto Tietê, Guarapiranga, Cotia, Rio Grande, Rio Claro and São Lourenço.
“Since the water crisis, the Company’s investments have made the Integrated System more robust and flexible (it is possible to supply different areas with more than one system), with emphasis on the implementation of the new São Lourenço system and the interconnection of the Paraíba do Porto basin. South with Cantareira”, says the text.
According to Sabesp, considering the integrated system, the operation takes place at 54.7% of capacity, a level similar to 52.2%, recorded in the same period in 2021, a year in which there were no supply problems.
