With residents of Grande facing up to 16 hours a day without water, the government (Republicans) adjusts communication to avoid political wear and tear around one of its main issues: the privatization of water.
The governor’s team assesses that a worsening of the crisis could weaken the moment considered favorable, with impacts on 2026, when Tarcísio will be in the electoral race — he is considered on the right for the Presidency, but says that.
After a year of criticized decisions and the recovery of (PT) in the polls, the current public security crisis has opened up — an issue in which right-wing politicians tend to have more visibility than those on the left.
Even after passing on the , Tarcísio closely monitors Sabesp’s communication. Three months ago, he received in his office, in meetings outside the official agenda, the publicist Nizan Guanaes, in charge of the company’s advertising, and Felipe Nunes, from Quaest, who this year carried out opinion research for the company.
“I was there months ago to show the campaign about the enormous transformative effort of repairing, renewing and innovating a network that is four and a half times around the Earth,” Nizan told Sheet. Nunes also confirmed the meeting.
The possibility of an impact on supply, however, caused increased attention. In the 2014-2015 water crisis, with Sabesp still nationalized, government decisions were announced by the company and vice versa. The then governor (), still a tucano, even guaranteed in an electoral debate that there would be no shortage of water, only to later admit the need for rationing.
This year, Sabesp was not called to announce the public consultation on the methodology to reduce consumption, which it predicts per day, reaching mainly the most remote neighborhoods.
The government states that the company does not formulate public policies and that it will be able to comment during the 30 days of consultation.
“We were very keen to preserve the institutional roles of each entity. Sabesp is the operator, it controls the system’s valves. In other words, it has the obligation to comply with these determinations, these pressure reductions. But Sabesp is not a formulator of public policy and it is not autonomous in defining its own operating rules”, said Thiago Mesquita, president of Arsesp (the agency that oversees the concession).
The Secretary of Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics, Natália Resende, has defended both the privatization and the company’s shares. In a hearing at Alesp (Legislative Assembly), she told Sheet that, without privatization, the network was at risk of “destructuring” — although Sabesp remained in surplus and had investment capacity.
“The privatization of Sabesp came to strengthen water resilience. Otherwise, we would have a problem of infrastructure disruption,” he stated. She stated that the privatization contract provides for increased resilience against drought.
The report asked the government whether there was evidence to support the argument and received in response a note that brought projections based on a private study used in the privatization process that pointed out the possibility of Sabesp losing customers to competitors.
The study “predicted a potential loss of 50% of the municipalities operated by the state-owned Sabesp in 15 years (2038). Privatization was, therefore, fundamental to guarantee the continuity of the current regional model, which allows the integration of infrastructures”, stated the text.
The option to remove Sabesp from the discussions is criticized by opposition parliamentarians. “To be able to talk to Sabesp, it’s a battle. The government wants to handle everything via Arsesp,” said state deputy Antonio Donato (PT), who also questions the impact of reducing pressure. “The people who end up punished are the people living on the outskirts.”
Under reservation, a company technician points out another potential focus of wear and tear that is outside the government’s plans: per capita consumption targets. Even with non-punitive models, such as bonuses for those who save, the proposal can be interpreted as rationing.
This technician, however, states that, if the rainfall regime remains within the historical average, the risk of worsening the shortage is low. This year’s scenario is closer to that faced in 2021 than in 2014, according to the government.
Secretary Natália states that the goals are not necessary. “We have studied all the necessary measures. The ones that we put in the contingency plan, and that have given results, are the ones that we saw that we can achieve results”, he said.
In a note, the Tarcísio administration stated that “as for the meetings between the Government of São Paulo and the concessionary companies that operate in the state, they are important for monitoring the provision of essential services to the population and deal with topics of absolute public interest, including those related to public benefit campaigns”.
