The São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) approved the creation of the Brazilian Water Research Center (BWRC), a research center focused on major topics related to water, such as treatment and measurement technologies, water security, desalination, between others. The launch of the BWRC took place this Friday morning (17) during a press conference held at Campinas City Hall and was attended by Lauro Kubota, professor at the Institute of Chemistry (IQ) at Unicamp and coordinator of the BWRC; Arly de Lara Romêo, president of Sanasa; and Jonas Donizette, mayor of Campinas.
The result of a partnership between Unicamp, Sanasa and Fapesp, the BWRC will receive an investment of R$120 million, R$30 million from Fapesp and another R$30 million from Sanasa. Unicamp's counterpart will be invested in the transfer of the physical area for the Center's headquarters, in addition to the employment of researchers and scholarship holders to carry out the studies. According to Lauro Kubota, the creation of the Center had been under discussion since 2018 and, with Fapesp's approval, work should begin later this year.
"We know the big problem that exists, not only in Campinas, but throughout Brazil, water is a global problem. This initiative carried out here in Campinas arouses the interest of several countries, several international water centers. We already have partnerships with five international water centers that will be our partners in the development of research and technological advancement in this water issue", explains Kubota, who adds that he has already received contact from other research centers interested in establishing partnerships with the new BWRC.
Jonas Donizette highlights that the new Center's research will be of great importance for the country's development on several fronts. "We know that Brazil is a country with great water wealth, but we also know that a large part of the problems of economic backwardness in some regions of Brazil occur because of the water issue. Keeping due proportions, in the same way as the Sirius Laboratory (National Synchrotron Light Laboratory) is contributing to science to discover the structure of the coronavirus, this center can make a great contribution to Brazil in this area of water knowledge", comments the mayor.
Check out the details of the launch in the live stream broadcast by Campinas City Hall this Friday (17th) starting at 15:10 pm.
