Águas de São Pedro

Águas de São Pedro
Municipality
Municipality of the Hydromineral Spa of Águas de São Pedro
View of the midtown and the Jardim Iporanga neighborhood in Águas de São Pedro
Flag Coat of arms Official logo of Águas de São Pedro
Nickname:  Águas
Motto(s):  Omnibus Pax Et Sanitas (Latin for Peace and Health for Everyone)
Anthem: Hino a Águas de São Pedro
Location in the state of São Paulo
Country	Brazil
Region	Southeast
State	São Paulo
Founded	25 July 1940
Incorporated	24 December 1948
Founded by	Octavio Moura Andrade
Named for	Saint Peter and São Pedro
Government
• Mayor	Paulo Cesar Borges (PSDB)
• Aldermen	List of Aldermen Carlos Ivan Barbosa (PMDB) Ismael Justino de Oliveira (PT) João Victor Barboza (PPS) Luiz Carlos Pinto da Fonseca (PMDB) Marco Antonio Berto (PP) Marcos Roberto Bomfate (PR) Maria de Fátima Scaranelo (PSDB) Rubens Aparecido Antunes (PSDB) Valdir Aparecido Gibim (PMDB)
Area
• Municipality	3.612 km2 (1.395 sq mi)
• Urban	3.612 km2 (1.395 sq mi)
Elevation	515.24 m (1,690.42 ft)
Population  (2010)
• Municipality	2,707
• Estimate  (2015)	3,139
• Density	749.45/km2 (1,941.1/sq mi)
Demonym	água-pedrense
Ethnicity
• White	87.22% (2,361 inhabitants)
• Brown	10.31% (279 inhabitants)
• Black	1.51% (41 inhabitants)
• Yellow	0.96% (26 inhabitants)
Time zone	UTC-3 (BRT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-2 (BRST)
Postal code	13525-000
Area code	19
HDI (2010)	0.854 – very high
Website	Águas de São Pedro

Águas de São Pedro (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈaɡwas di sɐ̃w̃ ˈpedɾu] ) is a Brazilian municipality of the state of São Paulo located 184 kilometers (114.3 miles) from the state capital. It is the second smallest Brazilian municipality in territorial extension, with only 3.612 km² (1.395 sq mi), and had a population of 2,707 in 2010. Águas de São Pedro means "Waters of Saint Peter". Its name is derived from the mineral springs in its territory and their location, that before its foundation, were part of the municipality of São Pedro (São Pedro is the Portuguese for Saint Peter).

The average annual temperature in the city is 22.4 °C (72.3 °F), and most of the municipality's vegetation consists of reforested area. Regarding the automobile fleet, in 2014 were accounted 2,317 vehicles. Being only composed of urban area, not having a rural area, the city had four health facilities in 2009. Its Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.854, the second best in the state of São Paulo, as well as the second best in Brazil, surpassed only by São Caetano do Sul.

Águas de São Pedro was incorporated in the 1940s. The city is known for its mineral waters of medical value, and their natural sources as some of the main tourist attractions. One of the springs, Fonte Juventude, has the second most sulfurous water in the world. It also has two large parks (Dr. Octavio Moura Andrade Park and the Parque das Águas "José Benedito Zani"), and the municipal mini garden, important green areas of the city.

The municipality is located in the region of Itaqueri Ridge (Portuguese: Serra do Itaqueri; Itaqueri means "lying stone" in Tupí–Guaraní), south-central part of the state of São Paulo. It is planned city and since its foundation is a tourist spot that attracts visitors.

History

Origins

Bust of the owner of the land that would become Águas de São Pedro, Angelo Franzin

Bust of the city founder, Octavio Moura Andrade

The Engineer Ângelo Balloni Oil Tower is a landmark of the city history

Until 1800, the region of São Pedro and its enclave was only virgin forest. The first civilized people to set foot in Águas de São Pedro territory were, as in most municipalities in the São Paulo countryside, bandeirantes seeking precious stones, especially gold, opening many roads and routes in the dense forest. One of these routes, called Caminho do Picadão (Way of the Forest Trail), started in Itu, passed through Piracicaba and advanced towards the hinterlands of Araraquara. For years, many farms were formed in the region, until in 1883, São Pedro was detached from Piracicaba and became politically independent.

The economy at that time was now based in the coffee culture, where many Italian families settled in these regions to work under partnership contract to replace the slave labor. In this condition, the Italian immigrant Angelo Franzin arrived in Brazil in 1887, going to work on the farm Recreio, owned by João Rezende da Cruz, and just a year later he would run other farms, like Santa Rita, Santa Eulália and Rosário. After many years of work, in accordance with his brother Jácomo, he purchased land and also decided to try the coffee planting. The first properties acquired were the farms Palmeiras and Limoeiro, followed by the lands of Floresta Escura, Gonçalves, Tuncum and Araquá, as well as houses, lots and two machines to process coffee beans.

Search for oil and the discovery of springs

In the 1920s, Júlio Prestes, the governor of São Paulo, had begun a research on the oil prospecting area in São Pedro. The researches have failed to find petroleum and the equipment were abandoned, but still gushing out mineral water. Subsequently other attempts have been made to find oil at greater depths, and again, no oil was found. One oil rig structure still remains nowadays and it's called Torre de Petróleo Engenheiro Ângelo Balloni (Engineer Ângelo Balloni Oil Tower).

Years later, in 1934, Angelo Franzin, owner of some of the perforated lands, built a simple bath house (currently known as "Youth Fountain") in one of the springs, where he bathed himself. The water had a characteristic smell of sulfur. A year later a group of townspeople bought a lot of 100,000 square meters (1,076,391 square feet) around the bath house where they built a health resort. It was composed of twelve masonry bathtubs, in contrast with the first bath house, that was wooden. In that same year, Octavio Moura Andrade decided to build there a spa, giving it the name of Caldas de São Pedro, creating along with his brother, Antonio Joaquim de Moura Andrade, the company Águas Sulfídricas e Termais de São Pedro S.A. (Saint Peter Thermal and Sulphydric Waters S.A.).

For four years the Institute for Technological Research (IPT) of the University of São Paulo conducted a series of studies in those waters. Generally water from great depths have a high concentration of substances that may be harmful to human beings, and its pH may not be suitable for bathing. In 1940 the results were published in the Bulletin 26 of IPT. The waters were considered good for bathing and their medicinal properties were studied by the Professor João de Aguiar Pupo, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of São Paulo.

Foundation and incorporation

Recognizing the importance of the thermal springs in the region, the São Paulo State Government founded on 19 June 1940 the [Estância Hidromineral e Climática de Águas de São Pedro] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Hydromineral and Climatic Spa of Águas de São Pedro). Despite this, the city celebrates its birthday on 25 July, when it was founded in 1940 the first major building in the city, the Grande Hotel (now Grande Hotel São Pedro). The municipality of Águas de São Pedro was incorporated by the State Law no. 233, from 24 December 1948.

Construction of the spa town and urban planning

Map of Águas de São Pedro in 1990

To promote the development and exploitation of medicinal waters in an economically viable way, Octavio Moura Andrade conceived and designed a city focused on hydrotherapy and residential purposes: a spa town. Águas de São Pedro was created to be a hydromineral spa, fully planned and aiming to serve those who needed treatment and tourists looking for fun and leisure. The urban planner Jorge de Macedo Vieira was chosen to harmonize the use of space to the use of mineral waters, topography, soil and climate, taking about two years of detailed study of the area to then design the city. It was only in 1940 that the project was fully ready, being recorded in the Real Estate Registry Office of the District of São Pedro under the number 1, already in accordance with the requirements of the Brazilian Federal Decree-Law no. 58, from 10 December 1937.

From this project several buildings were built, such as a large luxury hotel to welcome tourists, in addition to a casino, one of the first in the country with activity regulated by the government. Also sanitation works were performed, and the technical office Saturnino de Brito was hired, coming from Rio de Janeiro to study and control the sanitation works in an area around the Grande Hotel. There was recovery of roads, with the rectification of eight kilometers (4.97 mi) of a road that connected São Pedro to the springs, allowing the traffic of heavy vehicles; construction of an airport (now São Pedro Airport) in a 40 alqueires area (239.2 acres) with four runways, departure lounge, electricity, telephone, running water, hangar and refueling station; improvement of energy services, because as São Pedro's power grid was in disrepair, a private power line was built connecting São Pedro to the construction works of the spa, and for greater assurance, it was built in the Grande Hotel an emergency powerhouse with two diesel generators capable of supplying the hotel and the town.

Contemporary history

After the opening of the spa, tourism gained momentum in Águas de São Pedro. The city became one of the members of the Região Turística da Serra do Itaqueri (Touristic Region of the Itaqueri Ridge), composed of 12 municipalities. With a large movement of tourists there was also the need for improvements in the commercial sector, such as reforms in the Rua do Comércio (Trade Street, old nickname for the street João Batista Azevedo).

In 2013, a group of companies led by Telefônica Vivo planned to make Águas de São Pedro the first digital city in the country. In the first stage of the project there has been the replacement of the telephone wiring of the city, which was of copper and is now optical fiber. There was also the installation of an antenna, providing 4G technology, installation of security cameras, distribution of tablets for students of the municipal school, installation of presence sensors in a smart car parking system, and installation of a smart street lighting system, reducing energy consumption. At the end of 2015, Telefônica Vivo left the lead the group, passing the responsibility to the City Hall, but still providing services to the community. The second stage begins in 2016, with the installation of interactive kiosks in public places, qualification of teachers to work with new technologies, and scheduling of medical appointments over the Internet.

Geography

View of Águas de São Pedro city center

The area of the municipality is of 3.612 square kilometers (1.395 square miles), the second smallest Brazilian city in area, only larger than Santa Cruz de Minas. It represents 0.0015% of the state territory and 0.0004% of the area of southeastern Brazil. The municipality does not have a rural area, just an urban perimeter.

Águas de São Pedro is divided into four neighborhoods: Jardim Jerubiaçaba (Garden Jerubiaçaba; Jerubiaçaba means "loyalty" in Tupí–Guaraní) at northeast, Jardim Iporanga (Garden Iporanga; Iporanga means "beautiful river" in Tupí–Guaraní) at east, Centro (Center), and Jardim Porangaba (Garden Porangaba; Porangaba means "nice view" in Tupí–Guaraní) at south.

It is located at latitude 22°35'50.422" south and longitude 47°53'02.309" west, and at a distance of 184 kilometers (114.3 mi) northwest of the São Paulo state capital. Its only adjacent municipality is São Pedro, from which is one of the four enclaves of Brazil, besides Arroio do Padre, Ladário and Portelândia.

Geomorphology and hydrology

Araquá River

The geomorphology of the area of Águas de São Pedro is characterized by reliefs of low, soft hills – separated by valleys without major river plains – and it is slightly rugged, with sites that only rarely exceed 200 meters (656.2 feet) of unevenness. The municipality is at an altitude of five hundred and fifteen meters (1,690.42 feet) above sea level, located in a geographic region called São Paulo State Peripheral Depression, near the border with the Western Plateau, in the area of occurrence of Basaltic Cuestas.

Águas de São Pedro is located in the so called Piramboia Formation (Piramboia means "snake fish" in Tupí–Guaraní) – one of the five stratigraphic subdivisions of the Paraná Basin, where the city is located, formed at different periods – in which Triassic and Eo-Cretaceous ages sediments predominate, which are composed of thin to medium arenites, with white-orange and reddish colors, and with tangential cross-bedding in a midsize to large base; these features are indicative of temporary rivers in the past in a semiarid environment.

The city is situated in the central part of the Medium Tietê Zone, which occupies about 15,000 km² (5,791.5 sq mi), or 2/5 of the total area of the Peripheral Depression. It is bounded by Araquá River (Araquá means "hole of the world" in Tupí–Guaraní), which has a general north-south route, and also by the lakes Limoeiro and Das Palmeiras. The region where it is located Águas de São Pedro is also part of the watershed of the Piracicaba River. The Piracicaba basin extends over an area of 12,568.72 km² (4,852.81 sq mi), covering the southeastern state of São Paulo and the southern end of Minas Gerais.

Climate

Águas de São Pedro
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     222     31 19     191     31 20     149     31 19     72     29 16     62     27 13     44     26 12     27     26 11     27     28 13     64     29 15     124     30 17     134     30 17     192     30 19 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm Source: Center for Meteorological and Climatic Researches Applied to Agriculture
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     8.7     87 67     7.5     88 67     5.9     87 66     2.8     84 61     2.5     80 56     1.7     78 54     1.1     79 53     1.1     83 55     2.5     84 59     4.9     85 62     5.3     86 63     7.6     86 66 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

According to the Köppen climate classification Águas de São Pedro has a tropical savanna climate (Aw), close to the humid subtropical climate (Cfa), with a decrease in rainfall during winter and annual average temperature of 22.4 °C (72.3 °F), having dry and mild winters (with occurrence of light frosts in a few days of the season) and rainy summers with high temperatures. The hottest month, February, has an average temperature of 25.2 °C (77.4 °F), with an average maximum of 30.9 °C (87.6 °F) and a minimum of 19.5 °C (67.1 °F). And the coldest month, July, has an average temperature of 18.7 °C (65.7 °F), being 25.9 °C (78.6 °F) and 11.4 °C (52.5 °F) the maximum and minimum averages, respectively. Fall and spring are transitional seasons.

The total annual rainfall is of 1,307.5 mm (51.476 in), and July is the driest month, when there are 26.7 mm (1.051 in) of precipitation. In January, the wettest month, the average is of 221.5 mm (8.72 in). From the early 2000s, however, the hot and dry days during winter have been increasingly frequent not only in Águas de São Pedro, but also in much of the state of São Paulo, often surpassing 30 °C (86 °F) especially between the months of July and September. During the dry season and in long veranicos in the middle of the rainy season are also common records of smoke from burned-over land in sugarcane plantations and scrubland, mainly in the rural area around the city, which led the Federal Court to prohibit such activity in the region. Hailstorms are not very common in the city, but one of the latest occurred on 17 February 2010.

Ecology and environment

The original vegetation of the area of Águas de São Pedro was the cerrado, a mixed formation classified into two strata: the upper stratum, composed of trees with variable height from 3 to 6 meters (9.84 to 19.69 feet), with crowns often sparse and spaced apart; the lower stratum is composed of continuous coverage of grasses and other herbs, with less than a meter tall, and trees with trunks and twisted and gnarled branches, thick bark, large leaves and thorns. This natural vegetation, however, is quite devastated. Today the vegetation is predominantly planted. The city have 69.58 hectares (171.936 acres and 17.40% of the municipality total area) of reforestation areas, mostly concentrated in Dr. Octavio Moura Andrade Park, in the northwest, and 2.06 hectares (5.09 acres and 0.69% of the municipality total area) of floodplain vegetation, totally concentrated in the banks of the Araquá River, in the southeast portion of the municipality.

Demographics

Population pyramid 2010

% Males Age Females % 0.967   85+   1.414 0.967   80–84   1.525 1.637   75–79   1.9 2.121   70–74   2.568 2.27   65–69   3.35 2.791   60–64   3.535 2.57   55–59   3.163 2.605   50–54   3.647 3.24   45–49   4.056 2.98   40–44   4.205 3.312   35–39   3.423 3.61   30–34   3.312 3.275   25–29   3.163 2.791   20–24   2.791 3.684   15–19   3.796 3.35   10–14   3.35 2.493   5–9   2.567 1.935   0–4   1.637

As of the 2010 Brazilian Census recorded by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Águas de São Pedro had a population of 2,707. From that total, 2,361 inhabitants are White (87.22%), 279 are Pardo (brown) (10.31%), 41 are Black (1.51%), and 26 are Asian (0.96%). It is 594th most populous city in the state, and has a population density of 749.45 inhabitants per square kilometer. From the total population, 1,262 inhabitants were men and 1,445 were women.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1970	830	—
1980	1,091	+31.4%
1991	1,697	+55.5%
1996	1,664	−1.9%
2000	1,883	+13.2%
2007	2,340	+24.3%
2010	2,707	+15.7%
Source: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics

Half of the housing units of the city (50.6%) are from vacationers. Many people take the opportunity to stay in the municipality on weekends and holidays and have their homes just for recreation and as a real estate investment.

In the year 2000, three hundred and five people in the city (16.2% of the municipality population) declared having some type of disability, almost two percent higher than the national average.

The Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI) of Águas de São Pedro, considered very high by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is of 0.854, being the second largest in the state of São Paulo, as well as the second largest in Brazil. Considering only the education, the index is of 0.825, while that of Brazil is 0.637; the longevity index is 0.890 (the Brazilian index is 0.816); and the income index is 0.849 (the country index is 0.739). The city has the majority of the indicators high and all above the national average, according to the UNDP.

The Gini coefficient, which measures the social inequality, is of 0.40, of which 1.00 is the worst number and 0.00 is the best. The poverty incidence, measured by the IBGE, is of 5.91%; the lower limit of poverty incidence is of 0.17%; the upper limit is of 11.65%; and the incidence of subjective poverty is of 4.24%.

Religion

Just like the cultural variety in Águas de São Pedro, there are various religious manifestations present in the city. As of the 2010 Brazilian Census, the population had 1,836 Roman Catholics (67.81%), 435 Evangelics (16.07%), 228 people without religion (8.41%), 125 Spiritists (4.63%), 29 people with not determined religion or multiple belonging (1.08%), 13 Jews (0.47%), 9 Orthodox Catholics (0.33%), 7 Spiritualists (0.24%), 6 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.23%), 6 people with new Eastern religions (0.23%), 4 people of other Christian religion (0.15%), 3 Buddhists (0.12%), 3 people with esoteric traditions (0.11%), and 3 people from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (0.12%).

Some places of worship in Águas de São Pedro

Assemblies of God Church

Christian Congregation of Brazil Church

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses

Church of the Foursquare Gospel

Roman Catholic Church

Immaculate Conception Mother Church

Our Lady of Aparecida Chapel

The history of the Catholic Church in Águas de São Pedro started when Mrs. Maria Julia das Dores Andrade, mother of the city founder, asked him to build the "House of God" along with the construction of the Grande Hotel. The highest place of the city was selected to erect it.

In 1946, a chapel was completed, and its architecture was based on another chapel seen by Dr. Octavio in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The chapel was dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. In 1954, Águas de São Pedro was removed from membership of the city of São Pedro parish, and on 29 May of that same year, the present-day Immaculate Conception Parish was founded by Don Ernesto de Paula. The parish is subordinate to the Diocese of Piracicaba.

Years after the foundation of the parish, a new place near the central area of the city was selected to erect a new church, but those plans were not completed because Canon Marcos Van Inn, the creator of the project, died. Then the parochial hall of the city was nominated by the Bishop of Piracicaba, Don Aníger Maria Melillo, to be adapted into the city's Mother Church, as it remains today. The title of Immaculate Conception was transferred from the old chapel to the Mother Church, and the chapel is now dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of the Apparition.

Economy

Small craft shops in the city

According to the data of 2013 of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the municipality had a gross domestic product (GDP) of R$ 97,021,000.00. Of this total, R$ 4,353,000.00 were product taxes net of subsidies. The GDP per capita was R$ 32,297.32. Also according to the IBGE, the city had in the year of 2013 208 local units (shops) and a total of 1,565 employed persons, with 1,302 of them salaried. Salaries along with other compensation totaled R$ 26,742,000.00 and the average monthly wage of the municipality was 2.3 minimum wages.

Because the city does not have a rural area, the primary sector does not contribute to the local GDP. Although the municipality does not count on any major industry, the gross value added of the secondary sector was R$ 7,263,000.00.

The amount of R$ 67,496,000.00 of the municipal GDP is from services, being currently the major source of GDP of Águas de São Pedro. In the tertiary sector stands out the tourism area, and its economy is geared exclusively for this sector. The municipality of Águas de São Pedro is integrated with the Touristic Region of the Itaqueri Ridge and has as its main attraction its mineral waters of medicinal value. According to city officials, the new tourism routes go through regionalization. These tourists attracted by the natural attractions also help to move the commercial sector of the city. The main sales points where there is great movement are the avenue Carlos Mauro and the Trade Street, which after works in the amount of R$ 302,000.00 has become a pedestrian street.

The holidays also tend to bring more income to the city. In the 2016 Carnival, for example, the Municipal Secretary of Tourism, Fabio Pontes Ferreira, said that the movement of tourists by local businesses would result in the entry of R$ 5 million into the local economy. There are also several economic programs that were created in order to disclose the Touristic Region, to attract more tourists and improve commercial and lodging sectors.

Culture and recreation

Fountain in Octavio Moura Andrade Square

Tourism

The municipality on weekends receives up to twice the number of people who live there, about 6,000 tourists. In the long holidays, the number could reach 30,000 tourists.

Águas de São Pedro is one of eleven municipalities considered hydromineral spas by the government of the state of São Paulo, by fulfilling certain prerequisites set by State Law. The Federal Law no. 2,661, from 3 December 1955 states: "It is considered thermomineral, hydromineral, or simply mineral spa the location recognized by state law, and which has springs of thermal or mineral, natural waters exploited in compliance with the provisions of this law and the Federal Decree-Law no. 7,841, from 8 August 1945." This recognition ensures these municipalities a larger budget from the state to invest in regional tourism. Also, the city has the right to add before its name the title of hydromineral spa, the term by which will be designated by both the municipal official administration as well as the state references.

As green areas the city have the Mini Horto (Mini Garden), a place with a plant nursery and a pond, and two large parks:

• Dr. Octavio Moura Andrade Park (named in 1975), area with more than one million square meters (approximately 10,763,910.4 square feet), with 16 hiking trails with a length of 6,500 meters (21,325.46 feet). Inside of it there are several species of the regional fauna and flora, as about 250 types of birds and approximately 40 coatis.
• Parque das Águas "José Benedito Zani" (Waters Park "José Benedito Zani", named in 2000), area with 6,400 m² (68,889.03 sq ft) with jogging track, outdoor gym equipment, skate ramp and bikeway.

There are two local holidays in Águas de São Pedro: the city anniversary (25 July) and the day of the Immaculate Conception (8 December).

Mineral springs

Drinking fountain with the three types of mineral water of the city

Águas de São Pedro is popular for its mineral waters, as its name indicates. There are three fountains in the municipality: Fonte Juventude (Youth Fountain), Fonte Gioconda (Gioconda Fountain), and Fonte Almeida Salles (Almeida Salles Fountain), all with a much higher mineralization than most other Brazilian mineral springs. From these three, only the last two have a natural outcrop, as the Juventude fountain water comes from an artesian well of an old oil exploration research. All waters can be consumed at the Fontanário Municipal (Municipal Fountain), and for baths, there is the Spa Thermal Dr. Octavio Moura Andrade, the municipal bath house.

The water of the Fonte Juventude is collected in the depth of 348.59 m (1,143.67 ft) and is the richest sulfurous water of Brazil, of the Americas and is the second in the world in sulfurous components (only behind the fountain Pergoli in Tabiano, Italy), with 34.3 milligrams of sulfur oxygenated compounds, 4 milligrams of hydrogen sulfide, and 53 milligrams of sodium hydrosulfide and sodium sulfide per liter of water. It is indicated for immersion baths and treatment of skin diseases.

Fonte Gioconda has a high sodium sulfate content (42 mg/100 ml), and is therefore indicated in the treatment of stomach diseases. The fountain was named in honor of the Giocondo family, who ceded the land around the spring to Octavio Moura Andrade.

The Fonte Almeida Salles is named in honor of the homonymous doctor of the Secretariat of Agriculture of the State of São Paulo who first visited it and tested the medicinal use of the water. It is a sodium bicarbonate water indicated for stomach and liver diseases.

Caminho do Sol

Casa de Santiago

Idealized by José Palma in 2002, the Caminho do Sol (Way of the Sun) is a preparatory way to the Way of St. James, and it is recognized by the Xunta de Galicia. The route ends at the city of Águas de São Pedro, in the Casa de Santiago (House of St. James) located in the Mini Horto. Several pilgrims, with bicycles or hiking, come to the city every year through the way as a religious pilgrimage or tourism. The way have 241 kilometers (149.75 miles) and passes through 12 municipalities in the following order: Santana de Parnaíba, Pirapora do Bom Jesus, Cabreúva, Itu, Salto, Elias Fausto, Capivari, Mombuca, Saltinho, Piracicaba, São Pedro, and Águas de São Pedro.

Arts and crafts

In the field of performing arts in the city, there was the realization, between 2006 and 2010, of the Theatre Exhibition of São Pedro and Águas de São Pedro. In 2010 the project was awarded in the "Competition to Support Festivals of Art in the State São Paulo", promoted by the Secretariat of State for Culture, within the actions of the "Cultural Action Program", through the proposition of Associação Cultural Arte (Art Cultural Association), that made the event had full and unrestricted support from the municipal governments of the two cities.

The craft is also one of the most spontaneous forms of cultural expression of Águas de São Pedro. In the municipality is possible to find differentiated craftsmanship, made with regional raw materials and created in accordance with the culture and the local way of life. The "ART'S TRAMA – Artisans Association of São Pedro and Region", along with other institutions as the municipal government or the Superintendence of Craft Work in Communities (SUTACO), bring together many craftsmen in the region, providing space for production, exhibition and sale of craft products. The production involves especially quilts and crochet table runners, flowers produced with dry corn leaves, pieces produced on looms, among others. Usually this material is sold at bazaars (like the ones promoted by the municipal Social Solidarity Fund), fairs, exhibitions or craft stores.

Sports

The Grande Hotel hosted the first major competition of chess in Brazil, the Torneio Internacional de Águas de São Pedro (Águas de São Pedro International Tournament), in 1941.

Currently Águas de São Pedro has sent delegations to participate in the Jogos Regionais do Idoso (Senior Regional Games, known by the acronym JORI) and the Jogos Abertos do Idoso (Senior Open Games, known by the acronym JAI). In 2015, 44 athletes were sent to participate in the 19th JORI, a competition that had the participation of 3,500 athletes from 56 municipalities, and Águas de São Pedro got the 20th place.

Government

See also: List of mayors of Águas de São Pedro

City Hall (white and blue building at left) and the Municipal Council (yellow building in the center)

The municipal administration is formed by the mayor and nine vereadores (aldermen), who are elected for a term of four years. The installation of the Municipal Council and the inauguration of the first Sanitary Mayor, Carlos Mauro, appointed by the State Governor, occurred on 2 April 1949. The mayor is the head of the executive power and has nine secretariats under his command: Administration, Education, Finances, Tourism, Environment and Safety, Health, Social and Thermal Promotion, Public Works, and Urban Services. They assist the mayor in his government, planning, developing, orienting, coordinating and implementing policies in their respective areas. The legislative power is represented by the unicameral Municipal Council and its aldermen, who are responsible for legislating and supervising the actions of the City Hall. The municipality is governed by the Organic Law of the Municipality of the Spa of Águas de São Pedro, from 5 April 1990.

There is no courthouse in Águas de São Pedro; the municipality is part of the district court of São Pedro. According to the Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo, the city had in 2014 2,881 voters, a number greater than the number of inhabitants. This happens because the city has many vacationers and students that end up transferring their electoral register for the municipality.

Politics

The current mayor is Paulo Cesar Borges, also known as Paulo Ronan, affiliated to the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, and the vice mayor is Paulo Sergio Barboza de Lima, affiliated to the Democratic Labor Party. The Municipal Council is composed as follows: three seats of the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB); two seats of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB); one seat of the Popular Socialist Party (PPS); one seat of the Workers' Party (PT); one seat of the Democratic Labor Party (PDT); and one seat of the Progressive Party (PP).

In the last elections in 2014, the most voted party in Águas de São Pedro was the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, getting the most votes in all positions except for state representatives. Of the total votes it got: 65.45% (1st turn) and 84.29% (2nd turn) of the votes for the presidential candidate; 75.31% of the votes for the gubernatorial candidate; 76.05% of the votes for the senator candidate; 20.86% of the votes for candidates for state deputy (only behind Popular Socialist Party, that got 35.89% of the votes); and 32.53% of the votes for candidates for federal deputy.

Education

Angelo Franzin Educational and Cultural Center and EMEFASP III

Senac University Center

Águas de São Pedro is served by three public schools:

• Escola Municipal de Educação Infantil "Vida" ("Vida" Municipal Pre-school), also known by the acronym EMEI Vida.
• Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental de Águas de São Pedro "Maria Luiza Fornasier Franzin" I, II e III (Águas de São Pedro Municipal Elementary School "Maria Luiza Fornasier Franzin" I, II and III), also known by the acronym EMEFASP "Maria Luiza Fornasier Franzin" I, II and III. The numbers I, II and III represents the three different buildings of the school; each building houses different school grades.
• Escola Estadual Angelo Franzin ("Angelo Franzin" State School), also known by the acronym E.E. "Angelo Franzin", is a high school.

The city also has a higher education institution. Inaugurated in 1995, the Centro Universitário Senac - Campus Águas de São Pedro (Senac University Center - Águas de São Pedro Campus) is a private university maintained by the Brazilian National Commercial Training Service, that is known by the acronym Senac (Portuguese: Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial). It was formerly known as Senac Faculties, but in 2004 it was accredited by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture as University Center.

In 2012, the municipality had a total of 913 enrollments (629 in the elementary school, 203 in the high school, and 81 in the pre-school) and 66 teachers (43 in the elementary school, 17 in the high school, and 6 in the pre-school) in its schools. According to the Indicador Social de Desenvolvimento dos Municípios (Social Index of Development of Municipalities, known by the acronym ISDM) of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in 2010, the percentage of illiterate people over 18 years of age was 1.71%, and among people aged 15-17 was 0%. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) data from the 2010 census, there were a total of 2,441 people over 10 years of age of which 741 had no education and had not completed the primary education, 360 had completed primary education and had incomplete secondary education, 729 had completed secondary education and had incomplete higher education, and 610 had completed higher education.

Infrastructure

The city of Águas de São Pedro had 990 residences in 2010. Of this total 654 were owned properties, with 610 owned already paid, 44 being paid and 266 rented; 69 properties were lent, with 38 lent by employer and 31 lent by other means.

Transportation

In 1892, it was opened a railway station in the town of São Pedro, belonging to the Companhia União Sorocabana e Ytuana, which served later as a route for those who wanted to reach Águas de São Pedro. Between 1907 and 1919 it was part of the Sorocabana Railway, and until 1966 it belonged to the Sorocabana Railroad, part of the already defunct Piracicaba Line. The station was deactivated in the end of the 1960s, when were built the first paved roads in São Pedro and its enclave. Today only one highway pass through the city, the SP-304, Rodovia Geraldo de Barros. It connects Águas de São Pedro with the cities of São Pedro (8 km northwest) and Piracicaba (29 km southeast). Due to the high traffic of trucks, part of the road that passes through the urban area have several potholes. With that problem, politicians of the municipality and the neighbouring cities pressured the state governor for the duplication of the highway. After the Department of Highways (DER) confirm the project, the construction began on 22 August 2014 and is ongoing.

The city is located near the São Pedro Airport, which opened in 1938 and has recently undergone renovations. It is situated near SP-304, and its runway is of dirt, 1,100 meters long. The old city's bus station was upgraded and it opened again on 31 December 2008, to properly receive the passengers of intercity buses.

The municipal fleet in 2014 had a total of 2,317 vehicles, registering 1.17 inhabitant per vehicle, which causes mobility problems, especially in the city center streets on weekends.

Utilities

Sabesp Águas de São Pedro water treatment plant

Electricity is provided to the city by the Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz (São Paulo State Power and Light Company).

Water is provided by the Basic Sanitation Company of the State of São Paulo (Sabesp), which provides tap water to 100% of the city, but covers only 93,47%~95% of the city with sewage collection. Águas de São Pedro do not have a sewage treatment plant, then all the collected sewage (70,000 l/day, 101.7 kg BOD/month) is not treated and it is disposed in the Araquá River, that is also one of the city's main water resources. The absence of a sewage treatment plant in the city has generated complaints from the population, questioning the responsibility of Sabesp in this problem. Other problematic cases such as water catchment, siltation, and environmental degradation have caused the mayor considering not renew the contract with the company. After several negotiations, the contract was renewed in May 2013. The first equipment for the construction of sewage treatment plant arrived in November 2015 and the works are still underway.

Telephone and Internet services are offered by Vivo.

Health care

The municipality had in 2009 four health facilities, two private and two public (the Municipal First Aid Clinic and the Basic Health Unit Eurides de Lima "Dinho Barbosa"). The city also has outpatient care with medical care in basic specialties, dental care with dentist and provide services to the Sistema Único de Saúde (Unified Health System, known by the acronym SUS). Águas de São Pedro had in December 2009 sixteen doctors, four general practitioners, four nursing assistants, three nurses, two nursing technicians, two physiotherapists and eight people distributed in other categories, in a total of 39 health professionals.

Public safety

The absence of murders for more than a decade is celebrated in Águas de São Pedro. Since its foundation, the municipality had registered only one murder case, a double homicide in 17 August 1994, when Fátima Rinaldi Dante, 40 years old, and her granddaughter, Maria Virgínia Dante, 1 year old, were shot dead. The case was not solved.

Template:Águas de São Pedro crime rate chart The city has a 3rd class police station, and is patrolled by the 2nd grouping of the 3rd company of the 10th battalion of the Military Police of São Paulo State and the Municipal Civil Guard.

Sister cities

• Cubatão, Brazil (1991)
• Molinaseca, Spain (2012)

Bibliography

• Camargo, Ruy Bueno de Arruda (1990). Estância Hidromineral de Águas de São Pedro - Guia Turístico e Medicinal (in Portuguese) (1st ed.). São Paulo, Brazil: Editora Senac São Paulo. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

Further reading

• Crescenti, Stella Maria Gonçalves (6 August 2015). "Miralles, Lucila Jacob". Águas de São Pedro: A História que se conta [Águas de São Pedro: The Story That is Told] (in Portuguese). Revolução eBook. ASIN B013K9ZQ4M. ISBN 9788582452745.
• Saint-Pierre, Silvia (2007). Octavio Moura Andrade: o sonho de um empreendedor (in Portuguese) (1st ed.). São Paulo, Brazil: Editora Senac São Paulo. ISBN 8573595442. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Dos Santos, Antonino Malaquias; Gomes, Fábio de Freitas; Barreto, Ronaldo Lopes Pontes (2005). Gastronomia & história dos hotéis-escola Senac São Paulo (in Portuguese) (1st ed.). São Paulo, Brazil: Editora Senac São Paulo. ISBN 8573594322. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Brancalhão, Karina; Passarin, Rodrigo (December 2001). Passarin, Emerson; Passarin, Rodrigo (eds.). "Águas de São Pedro". Revista Origens (in Portuguese) (3). Piracicaba, Brazil: pp. 10–11. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
• Águas de São Pedro Municipal Council (5 April 1990). Lei Orgânica do Município da Estância de Águas de São Pedro (PDF) (in Portuguese). São Paulo, Brazil: Official Press of the State (IMESP). Retrieved 15 February 2016. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

External links

• Template:Pt icon Prefeitura de Águas de São Pedro The official website of Águas de São Pedro.
• Template:Pt icon Câmara de Vereadores de Águas de São Pedro Águas de São Pedro Municipal Council website.
• Template:Pt icon Águas de São Pedro A tourism website about Águas de São Pedro and its region.