MARAEY, the main sustainable tourist-residential development in Brazil, announced this week that all waste water generated in the complex will be treated using tertiary technology to turn effluents into reusable water for other purposes. The sanitation model, which is considered the most efficient in the country, will make use of this treated water for garden irrigation, roadway cleaning and other essential services. The undertaking, set to be built on the Costa del Sol in Maricá, is close to achieving its Installation Licence from the State Environmental Institute (INEA), which would allow infrastructure work to get underway, including sanitation.

The decision to use tertiary water treatment, which fosters a circular economy by allowing waste water to be repurposed as an asset, is part of a package of measures lined up within the MARAEY EESG Agenda, including various structural initiatives in the fields of economy, environment, social responsibility and governance.

MARAEY’s Executive Manager, David Galipienzo, explains the advantages of this technology.

“Tertiary treatment combines different forms of technology to achieve a degree of purification and quality that conventional methods fail to offer. This treatment is needed in order to guarantee that reuse is safe for the population and the environment, which not only lessens the amount of contaminants and murkiness, but also avoids the presence of pathogens and coliforms. MARAEY will introduce a technology that is rarely used in Brazil, even in large urban areas. We are going to take Maricá to a new level, turning this undertaking into a benchmark for new projects in the country,” , says Mr Galipienzo.

Waste water from the project will be channelled into Waste Water Treatment Plants (ETEs), where it will undergo several major stages of treatment divided into three phases, producing quality water in better condition than can be found in the Lagoon itself. The first phase consists in physically removing solids, followed by phase two with biological processes to treat the effluents, and ending with phase three, the most advanced, which involves sterilisation through ultraviolet radiation.

Repurposed water will be used to water gardens

MARAEY plans to reuse the water obtained from its waste water treatment plants (ETEs). It is estimated that the amount of waste water repurposed every day once in full operation will average roughly 60 litres per second – enough to irrigate approximately 380 thousand m2. Another sustainable water-related solution in the pipeline involves catching rainwater using a road catchment system and storing it in specific tanks to be used once it has been filtered and sterilised.

“Basic sanitation is of the utmost importance for sustainable development. We realise that water is a limited resource and we are concerned about and committed to using it responsibly, especially in Maricá. Once the effluents undergo tertiary treatment at the ETE plants, they will be used to water the gardens in the complex’s common and public areas. MARAEY is determined to avoid using drinking water for landscaping purposes, helping to reach a much lower consumption ratio per inhabitant than in conventional urban scenarios. This sustainability model rests on a project concept of harmonious coexistence between the area’s natural heritage and the presence of people (residents, tourists and visitors) in the region,” adds Luciana Andrade, MARAEY’s Director of Sustainability.

About MARAEY

MARAEY is set to be developed on Brazil’s Costal del Sol in Maricá. The tourist side of the undertaking will involve four five-star hotels welcoming an average of 300 thousand tourists every year. The project, guided by the smart city philosophy, will also feature various kinds of homes with a comprehensive range of services such as a school, hospital, international hospitality university, shops and businesses, as well as a host of leisure activities and sports. Having achieved worldwide seals such as BIOSPHERE and SITES GOLD precertification, MARAEY rises as a global benchmark for sustainability, quality and design.

MARAEY will also feature the longest bike lane in any private development in Brazil, measuring 20 km long, and aims for 55% of the fleet of vehicles used in the development to be electric or hybrid.

With barely 6.6% of the undertaking’s 860 hectares of land to be used for construction, it will be home to the second largest Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) of restinga forest in the State of Rio de Janeiro. As regards the 200 fishing families who live in the local Zacarias community, they stand to gain from seeing their properties legalised and receiving deeds of ownership, as well as an urban planning and infrastructure plan that meets the same standards and services as the rest of the project, and constant support for the local culture and fishing.

The private investment forecast is in order of R$ 11 billion, expecting R$ 7.2 billion to be collected in tax over the first 14 years (construction and consolidation of sales), followed by over R$ 1 billion per year once in operation and 36 thousand new jobs when MARAEY is fully up and running.