Community involvement in La Plata River Basin, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay (WWDR2, 2006)


La Plata River Basin is one of the largest river systems in the world, covering an extensive part of central and northern Argentina, southeast Bolivia, almost all the southern part of Brazil, the whole of Paraguay and a large part of Uruguay. In the growing slums of Brazil, wastewater pollution is rampant and water pricing is high, with residents often paying ten times the legal rate for water.

From 1992 to 1995, efforts to improve the water and sanitation infrastructure of the slums of Brazil were carried out through PROSANEAR, a pilot programme based on cost-effective, appropriate technologies and community participation. Rather than implementing a pre-designed project, PROSANEAR teams directly involved communities in order to adapt efforts to their needs and enlist their support. This new approach to delivering water and sanitation services to the urban poor demonstrates that the poor will pay for water and sanitation services, as long as they understand what they are paying for and receive adequate services for their payments.

This geographical area was also examined in the following Report:

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