Pernambuco governor greenlights Arcoverde water supply project in Brazil

Northeastern Brazil's Pernambuco state governor, Eduardo Campos, has signed a 42mn-real (US$18.9mn) service order agreement which authorizes the start of a project aimed at expanding water supply coverage in the city of Arcoverde by 40%. The eight-month project, which is being managed by state water utility Compesa, entails implementing 74km water of main pipelines and drilling two new 700m wells in the city's Jatobá basin region, according to a Compesa release. The two wells, together with the existing three, will provide a total water supply flow rate of 200l/s. Currently, the three provide 90l/s. This project, which is the first tendered under the federal government's differentiated contracting system (RDC), is considered to be an emergency works project to resolve the lack of water in the region until the bigger, Agreste water supply system project is done. The Agreste project, signed in May, should be completed in 2015, the release said. Arcoverde, which has a population of approximately 70,000, is located 260km west of state capital Recife.