Juliana Andrade
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The amount of fresh water available on an annual per capita basis to residents in the northern part of the Northeast region - the area that will be served by the São Francisco River integration project - is 450 cubic meters. This is less than a third of what the United Nations defines as the minimum amount to provide for human needs, 1.5 thousand cubic meters.

These figures were presented by the minister of National Integration, Ciro Gomes, at the 15th Planalto Forum, an event sponsored by the Presidential Advisory Staff for civil servants who work in the Presidency.

"The beneficiaries of the project live under more adverse conditions than Brazilians in other parts of the Northeast," the minister observed. Gomes said that the São Francisco River integration project is the surest of all such experiences heretofore tested in the world. The federal government expects the project to benefit around 12 million people who are affected by drought in the semi-arid part of the Northeast.

Translation: David Silberstein