Water Crisis in São Paulo, Brazil

October 31st, 2014

David Schulberg

Article originally published by stopmotionsolo

São Paulo has been experiencing an unprecedented drought for 9 months. The Cantereira reservoir, the main source of water for 6.5 million people in São Paulo, has almost run dry.

“Drinking water is starting to taste like earth. We have a water filter with 2 filters and it’s still starting to taste funky, I’ll definitely have to start buying bottled water soon.”

View of the Atibainha dam area, part of the Cantareira System. Photo: @ClarinFotos

See a link with photos of what the Cantereira looks like from BBC:

Brazil drought crisis deepens in Sao Paulo

The following article is from 5 days later of the same water system (the article is in Portuguese but it has pictures):

Água pode acabar em novembro, diz presidente da Sabesp
(Translation: Water will stop in November, says the President of Sabesp)

Mid-November there will be NO water left in this reservoir

One reason things have become so bad is because 2014 was an election year; and thus sensitive regarding issues which could threaten Gov. Geraldo Alckmin’s tenure in office. Any discussion of a water crisis could be troublesome, and thus the reality of the situation was not given much thought. This unfortunately created a further crisis where what little water the reservoir did have was poorly managed.

Typical Politics…

São Paulo is home to 16 million people, and is the largest commercial city in the Southern Hemisphere. They are entering their rainy season but I doubt that will solve the problem of an empty reservoir. Other reservoirs do serve São Paulo but a dry reservoir this large will certainly cause problems for many. When I traveled to Brazil for the World Cup it was their Winter and there were already notices of water shortages. Now Brazil is having their Spring and they have already dealt with heat waves. Brazil is notoriously hot and humid in the summer (a tropical climate having the Amazon Rainforest in the northern side of the country). São Paulo is in the South but rising temperatures will certainly affect this drought and the people of the city.

What we are seeing are the early, and comparatively small, effects of Global Warming.

In the United States, California has been suffering from a drought for more than a year and in some parts of the state there is no longer any water to flush toilets. Also, in California there has been contamination in their reservoirs by toxins from Fracking (Hydraulic Fracturing) making what water they do have even less drinkable.

It is very possible the State of São Paulo may have to start importing water if this natural crisis (exaggerated by human Global Warming) is not averted during the rainy season. It may have to import from private corporations who have purchased the rights to water resources, a speculative cash cow. Many people may have to move out of the city or change where they are living within it. Time will tell.

The worst part is, so long as our current use of fossil fuels increases, the problem of general resource scarcity will only grow more dire. Also to note, Brazil’s continued deforestation of the Amazon rainforest will only harm the global ecosystem more, leading to warmer global temperatures, and likely less rainfall in other parts of Brazil. There are times when you are sarcastically envious of investors who think ahead to exploit the needs of populations by way of purchasing public water rights.

Water is slowly becoming the new oil.

Sources:
stopmotionsolo
Veja
BBC
Clarin