The Experience of Condominial Water and Sewerage Systems in Brazil: Case Studies from Brasilia, Salvador and Parauapebas

This study described and compared the experience of the implementation of the condominial model in three Brazillian cities: Brasillia (the nations capital); Salvador (a major, historic metropolis in notrheastern Brazil); and Parauapebas (a small but fast growing boom town).

Together, the projects analyzed have suceeded in providing condominial networks to 2.5 million urban residents in Brazil, with 214.000 connections organized in close to 16.000 condominiums.

The case studies differ in a number of ways. For instance, Paraupebas in the only case in which the condominial system was applied to the water network. In Brasilia and Paraupebas, the model was adopted in conscious, planned manner, whereas in Salvador it was adopted gradually and opprtunistically in response to major engineering chalnges. In Brasilia and Paraupebas , the implementation of the model was facilited bt relatively orderly urbanization, whereas in salvador the systems had to be adapted to the demands of particularly dense, steep and precarious urban slums. In brasilia and Paraupebas, local residents covered the full cost of the condominial branches, whereas in salvador these were constructed free-of-charge.

In Brazilia and Salvador, the system was almost entirely constructed by contractors, whereas in Parauapebas the condominial branches wereinstaled almost entirily by community members. In Brazilia, community maintenance of condominial branches has not posed serious problems, where in Salvador it does not seem to have functioned very effectively. These contracts illustrate the considerable variety of forms that the condominial model can take.

Contents:

I. Introduction
II. Brasilia: Full Institutionalization of Condominial Sewerage
III. Salvador de Bahia: Large-Scale Experimentation with Condominial Sewerage
IV. Parauapebas: Community Mobilization for Condominial Water
V. Conclusions