The river becomes a dumping ground by default, not by choice.
On the slopes of Morro da Palha in Santa Catarina, the Mbyá Guarani community of Itanhaém has watched their ancestral river become unsafe for their children to enter — a quiet indignity shared by countless communities across Brazil where basic sanitation remains absent. In late May 2026, Embrapa researchers and local partners will begin training village residents to install and manage interconnected wastewater treatment systems, returning not just clean water but a measure of dignity and self-determination to the community. The initiative reflects a broader understanding that lasting solutions to environmental and public health crises must be built with people, not delivered to them.
- Indigenous children in Itanhaém can no longer swim in the river their ancestors knew intimately — contamination from untreated wastewater has quietly severed a living connection to their territory.
- The absence of sanitation infrastructure is not a new wound, but the project launching May 26–27 marks a concrete turning point, bringing biodigestor tanks, filter gardens, and chlorination systems directly to the community.
- Rather than imposing external solutions, Embrapa and partner NGO Cepagro are training residents to build, operate, and maintain the systems themselves, embedding resilience into the community's own hands.
- The project weaves sanitation together with school gardens, agroecological education, and food security, treating clean water not as an isolated fix but as one thread in a larger fabric of community wellbeing.
- If successful, Itanhaém could become a replicable model for vulnerable communities across Brazil, with findings distributed to municipalities, professionals, and policymakers navigating similar crises.
High on Morro da Palha, overlooking Biguaçu in Santa Catarina, the Mbyá Guarani village of Itanhaém faces a problem both specific and painfully common across Brazil: the river that once belonged to its children is no longer safe to enter. Inadequate sanitation infrastructure has contaminated the water, and the community has been left without the means to address it — until now.
On May 26 and 27, residents will receive hands-on training in three interconnected technologies developed by Embrapa Instrumentación: a biodigestor septic tank for toilet waste, a filter garden for sink and shower water, and a chlorinator for safe water reuse. The systems are low-input, manageable, and designed to be operated by the community itself — not maintained by outside technicians.
Researcher Wilson Tadeu Lopes da Silva is clear that this is a collaborative effort, not a top-down intervention. The project, running from late 2025 through 2026, aims to reduce vulnerability by linking sanitation to health, food security, and social development. Cepagro, a nonprofit supporting indigenous agriculture in Itanhaém, is working alongside residents throughout. Financial and institutional support comes from the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance through its food security and urban agriculture divisions.
Agronomist Isadora Escosteguy of Cepagro frames the stakes in generational terms: it is future children who will inherit either a contaminated river or a restored one, depending on what is built now. Beyond the technical systems, the project includes an agroecological school garden and a commitment to sharing results broadly — through training, digital tools, and published materials — so other municipalities can adapt what works.
For the children of Itanhaém, the river is still there, waiting. The work to return it to them begins at the end of May.
High on Morro da Palha, overlooking the municipality of Biguaçu in Santa Catarina, sits the Itanhaém village—home to the Mbyá Guarani people. The children there cannot swim in the river anymore, a practice their ancestors took for granted. The water is unsafe. The reason is straightforward and familiar across much of Brazil: the village lacks basic sanitation infrastructure. That is about to change.
On May 26 and 27, the community will receive training in installing three interconnected systems developed by Embrapa Instrumentación, the agricultural research agency's instrumentation division based in São Carlos. A biodigestor septic tank will treat toilet waste. A filter garden will handle wastewater from sinks and showers. An Embrapa chlorinator will disinfect the water. These are not complicated technologies. They require few external inputs. They allow the community to safely reuse water and nutrients for farming. And crucially, the village residents themselves will manage and maintain them.
Wilson Tadeu Lopes da Silva, a researcher at Embrapa Instrumentación, emphasizes that this is not something being imposed from above. The project, which began in late 2025 and runs through 2026, is called "Integrated Sanitation Technologies with Urban and Periurban Agriculture in Biguaçu." Its goal is to reduce vulnerability by improving health, food security, and social development in communities with few resources. The approach is collaborative. The community builds the solution together, not as passive recipients of someone else's plan.
The effort involves multiple partners. Cepagro, a nonprofit that promotes indigenous agriculture in Itanhaém, is deeply engaged in solving the sanitation problem alongside residents. The Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Hunger Combat is providing financial support and coordination through its Urban and Periurban Agriculture division and the National Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security. Isadora Escosteguy, an agronomist with Cepagro and field coordinator for the project, frames the work in terms of generations. "For us, it is very important to involve the community and the school from the beginning," she says, "because it is the future generations who will have access to quality water in this territory, thanks to adequate sanitation, which is a human right."
The project extends beyond pipes and tanks. The school in the periurban community will receive an agroecological garden to teach sustainable farming practices. Results will be shared widely—through written materials, digital tools, training sessions for professionals and public officials, and traditional media—so other municipalities can learn from what works here. The Ministry sees this as an investment in sustainable solutions built with communities, not for them. It demonstrates that sanitation, urban agriculture, and genuine community participation can be woven together to improve family life, help mitigate climate change, and create a model that other Brazilian towns facing similar challenges might adapt and follow.
For the children of Itanhaém, the river is waiting. The work to make it safe begins in late May.
Citações Notáveis
These are simple and efficient technologies that require few external inputs and allow safe reuse of nutrients and water in agriculture. The management will be done by those living in the village, and we intend this process to be built with the community, never imposed from above.— Wilson Tadeu Lopes da Silva, Embrapa Instrumentación researcher
It is very important to involve the community and the school from the beginning, because it is the future generations who will have access to quality water in this territory, thanks to adequate sanitation, which is a human right.— Isadora Escosteguy, Cepagro agronomist and project field coordinator
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a village with ancestral ties to a river lose access to it? It seems like a basic problem.
It is basic—but that's exactly why it persists. Sanitation infrastructure costs money and planning that many rural and indigenous communities don't have. The river becomes a dumping ground by default, not by choice.
So this is about installing three technologies. Is that really enough to change things?
It's not just the technologies. It's that the village controls them. They learn to maintain and manage the systems themselves. That's the difference between a solution that lasts and one that fails when the outside experts leave.
Who decided this needed to happen? Did the village ask for help?
The partnership grew from existing relationships. Cepagro was already working with the community on agriculture. When sanitation became the blocking issue—literally preventing them from using their own river—the collaboration expanded. It wasn't imposed.
What happens if it works? Does anyone else benefit?
That's built into the design. They're documenting everything, training other communities, sharing the model. If Itanhaém succeeds, towns across Brazil facing the same problem have a blueprint that actually respects local autonomy.
And if it doesn't work?
Then they learn why, adjust, and try again. But the fact that the community is driving it—not following orders—means they have real incentive to make it work. It's their water, their children, their river.