Case Study: AEGEA achieves 90% sewerage coverage at 58% lower cost with Bentley's SewerGEMS

SewerGEMS Optimizes AEGEA’s Sewerage Network Expansion in Lakes Region

Aegea, through its Prolagos concession, operates water and sanitation services across five municipalities in Brazil’s Lakes Region and needed to expand sewerage coverage to 90% while decontaminating the Araruama Lagoon and controlling CAPEX/OPEX amid highly variable seasonal flows and combined sewer/drainage systems. To develop and visualize robust investment and operational alternatives, Aegea used Bentley’s SewerGEMS (with SewerCAD, WaterGEMS, and WaterCAD integrations) to build an integrated hydraulic model fed by GIS, CAD, and SCADA data.

Bentley’s modeling allowed Aegea to run 80+ what‑if scenarios and select a cost‑effective combined-sewer master plan covering roughly 900 km of network, 63 lift stations, and seven treatment plants, cutting the estimated cost to reach 90% coverage by 58% (from an estimated USD 600M to USD 250M) and achieving 77% coverage after BRL 550M invested by 2017. The plan eliminated illegal discharges and restored the lagoon (BOD from 25 to 5 mg/L; ~10 tons/day organic load removal), reduced waterborne disease by 93%, lowered energy costs ~30% (about BRL 700,000/year), and sped stakeholder approval by clearly demonstrating ROI using Bentley’s tools.

Aegea

Wagner Oliveira de Carvalho

Senior Project Manager