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WATER POLITICS

Via El Pais, commentary on whether – after watching athletes and officials bathe in the Seine River during the Paris Olympics – some viewers from other countries probably wondered: could something like this happen in my city?

As a development specialist, I was thrilled by France’s decision to use the Olympics to showcase the extraordinary recovery of “the world’s most romantic river.” The Seine , like nearly all major urban rivers, fell victim to pollution for decades. But thanks to multiple investments in sanitation infrastructure, Olympic swimmers have once again taken to the plunge, just as they did when Paris hosted the Games 124 years ago.

While France has certainly spent millions of euros to achieve this transformation, river restoration should not be seen as a luxury that only the richest cities can afford. In Latin America and the Caribbean, where incomes are on average half that of France, several countries have been cleaning up their rivers and bays for decades, with results no less spectacular than those in Paris. Their success offers lessons that cities around the world can draw on to restore their riverbanks and coasts.

First, long-term planning should be rewarded. Anyone visiting Uruguay’s capital these days is sure to spend some time on the Rambla, a 24-kilometer coastal avenue that follows the contours of Montevideo Bay. The Rambla offers access to parks that are filled with joggers, cyclists, sunbathers, and beach volleyball players. Many of them no longer remember that, four decades ago, Montevideo Bay stank of sewage. The authorities decided to attack the problem at its roots with a long-term plan to modernize the city’s sanitation system. Successive national and municipal governments have since honored this vision, ensuring that the necessary investments were carried out without interruption.

Several countries have been cleaning up their rivers and bays for decades, with results no less spectacular than those in Paris.
Uruguayan authorities knew that even after sewage stopped flowing into the Bay, it would take many years for the water quality to be good enough to allow recreational activities. However, they were convinced that the wait was worth it. As Montevideo Bay recovered, waterfront property values ??rose, restaurants and shops returned, and people began to rediscover the Bay. A similar cycle of urban renaissance has been triggered by decades-long cleanup efforts in Panama Bay and the Mapocho River in Santiago, Chile .

A second secret to successful river restoration is securing the support of local communities. Colombia’s Medellín River is one of the cleanest in South America, thanks to three decades of investments by EPM, a state-owned utility. To achieve this, EPM had to build large wastewater treatment plants in the middle of residential areas. Before construction began, the company spent months working with community groups to socialize the benefits of the investments and incorporate features that would make the facilities attractive to residents, such as water parks. Combined with cutting-edge technology to prevent odors at the new plants, these efforts ensured that complex projects were completed without protests or delays. Today, Medellín is home to a network of riverside parks and a Christmas festival that draw more than a million tourists to the river each year.

Bringing sanitary sewer networks to low-income areas also requires continuous innovation. SABESP, a utility that provides water and sanitation to 26 million people in São Paulo, Brazil , has been working to restore the Tieté River for 30 years. To speed progress on the Pinheiros River, one of the Tieté’s main tributaries, SABESP tendered “pay-for-performance” contracts to companies that designed unconventional means of building sewer networks in densely populated favelas, or shantytowns. In addition to improving the quality of life for residents, these contracts accomplished in three years what would normally have taken more than eight. Now, the condition of the Pinheiros has improved so much that a bike path along its banks has become one of the busiest in the city.

Transboundary basins
A final lesson is that some rivers cannot be cleaned up by one country alone. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are undertaking a historic effort in the Trifinio region to prevent liquid and solid waste from reaching the Lempa and Motagua rivers, two critical sources of water and irrigation whose basins overlap national borders. Bolivia and Peru are moving forward on a comprehensive plan to improve their joint management of Lake Titicaca . And the eight nations that share the vast Amazon River basin have created a world-class agency to monitor and protect the world’s largest river.

The rebirth of the Seine is a cause for celebration for all of humanity. Now it is up to us to ensure that all river basins enjoy a similar fate.