Chinese firm helps Brazilian city gain access to clean drinking water

(Source: State Grid Corporation of China)

BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- In Joao Camara, a city in northeastern Brazil state of Rio Grande do Norte, local people once plagued by shortage of clean potable water due to the brackish underground water are now enjoying easy access to high-quality drinking water.        

They bade farewell to the bitter underground water with excessive mineral content after a brackish water desalination project funded by State Grid Corporation of China entered into operation in February 2023 and brings 80 tonnes of clean drinking water per day to 3,000-plus local citizens through the around 5,000 kilometers of water transmission pipes.

In 2023, State Grid transferred ownership of the public welfare program to the local government in Joao Camara and helped it solve the drinking water shortage problem to pursue win-win results.

Using made-in-China products, the brackish water desalination program includes a smart water supply system equipped with containerized bitter and salty water desalination equipment and adopted advanced technologies such as membrane-based reverse osmosis in filtering the brackish underground water in Joao Camara.

Designed by a R&D team of State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd. originally to desalinate seawater on sea islands, the new energy micro grid-enabled seawater desalination equipment that is used in the Joao Camara public welfare program is a popular product of State Grid in the Belt and Road markets.

Currently, such equipment has been exported and applied in countries such as the Maldives, Oman, Brazil, and Vietnam and is capable of supplying clean drinking water to more than 20,000 people per day.

In future, State Grid is willing to further participate in the energy infrastructure investment and construction in Brazil to better serve the sustainable economic development of the country and contribute more to China-Brazil bilateral cooperation, cultural exchanges and people-to-people communication. (Edited by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)