en.Wedoany.com Reported - Odebrecht has developed a wastewater reuse project using artificial intelligence, planning to replenish the Billings System through indirect potable water reuse. The project won an award at the 2026 InovaInfra Awards.

The frequent water crises in the Greater São Paulo region have sparked public attention on this topic. The project proposes laying a roughly 12-kilometer water pipeline to convey up to 15 cubic meters per second of treated wastewater from the Barueri Wastewater Treatment Plant (ETE Barueri) to the Pinheiros River; utilizing the historically flood-control-oriented Pinheiros River pumping system (São Paulo and Pedreira pumping stations) to lift the water to near the Billings Reservoir; and building a reclaimed water production plant (EPAR) with a capacity of 15 cubic meters per second near the Pedreira pumping station.

Rafael Lavigne, Odebrecht's Contracts Director, stated at the InovaInfra event held in April by the magazine O Empreiteiro that the project aims to use water sourced from other watersheds, treat it, and return it to water bodies to flow toward their respective destinations, especially the Tietê River, while leveraging the existing infrastructure of the Pinheiros River channel. Engineering Manager Derveson Oliveira noted that humans played a key role in advancing the project, but AI helped accelerate concept design, data organization, and various estimation tasks. The concept design was completed in 14 days, cutting the standard preparation time for such projects by more than 70%; however, he cautioned that the construction company already had prior knowledge of this topic. Odebrecht stated that the application of AI made the concept clearer, facilitated interdisciplinary integration, strengthened the decision-making foundation, and enhanced the engineering team's ability to seek solutions.