Brazil faces the worst drought in 91 years. Water shortages already affect many homes and even jeopardize the electricity supply in the largest country in Latin America.
The City Council of Itu, a city in the interior of the State of São Paulo, has been forced to ration water since last July. The 180,000 inhabitants of this town have running water every other day and not twice.
“It is quite a difficult situation. We waste a lot of time storing water and we are never 100% sure that the water is clean,” says potter Jonas Ribeiro Dias.
Every two days, a truck distributes 20,000 liters of water in the neighborhoods most affected by the drought, where the pressure is lower. In all the houses of Itu, the same scene is repeated: buckets and buckets full of the most precious liquid.
“We cannot say that this happens only in Itu. It is in the whole country. The entire planet needs water and only a small part of the water is treated,” says Valdenise Correia de Andrade, a housewife who has already gotten used to it. routine. At least 17 cities in the State of São Paulo have had to restrict running water and the sale of tanks has grown by 70%.
The water crisis in Itu is chronic and is due to a mix of factors, including insufficient rainfall and failed management of natural resources. In 2014, this city experienced such a severe drought that it exhausted the patience of the residents. The anger culminated in protests and then riots. It was news across the country. At that time, the water company had been privatized.
In 2017, with a new team in the Mayor’s Office, the management of this company was returned to public power. To avoid a new water collapse, the City Council has prepared in the last five years and has opened two catchment stations.
“If it weren’t for them, today we would have a much worse situation than in 2014. The 250 liters of water per second collected at the Mombaça station are making it possible to maintain water rationing in the city. The water is transported to the treatment station from Itu through a network of 22 and a half kilometers of underground pipes, “explains Reginaldo Santos, superintendent of the Ituana Sanitation Company.
The plant manages to make 600 liters of water drinkable per second. The City Council is carrying out works to double the amount of treated water. In addition, the local administration carries out awareness campaigns among the population to rationalize consumption.
“This is the clearest proof that privatization is not always the best way and neither is nationalization. The best way is to do good management and, in this case, good management is being public. Sometimes, execution can it may even be private, but the regulation and control of a single asset, a natural asset, has to be in the hands of the State, “says Guilherme Gazzola, mayor of Itu.
An environmental disaster due to the death of millions of fish
500 kilometers from Itu, in the State of Minas Gerais, the lack of rain has been dragging on for months and, as a consequence, most of the reservoirs register critical levels. The Nova Ponte dam is at 11% of its capacity, endangering both electricity production and local fish farms.
Nova Ponte integrates a system of reservoirs that feed several hydroelectric plants located between Minas Gerais and the gigantic Itaipú dam, on the border with Paraguay. The electricity company responsible for the Minas Gerais dams regulates the level of the swamps to avoid a possible energy collapse. Nova Ponte was gradually emptied to supply the neighboring reservoirs.
But this type of intervention carries an environmental cost. “If the water goes lower, there will be a mortality of 15 million farmed tilapia and more than five million native fish. Where are we going to place so many dead fish? We are already facing a pandemic. Can you imagine the number of diseases that this phenomenon Could it trigger? “, says Reginaldo Costa e Silva, environmentalist and coordinator of the SOS Represa Movement. Fish farming ensures Nova Ponte an annual income of 27 million dollars and many producers are concerned about the water emergency.
But there is another threat looming over this town. If the level of this reservoir drops 10%, the hydroelectric plant’s turbines will have to stop, which makes Brazil live on the brink of an energy emergency. Although the government has denied the possibility of blackouts in recent months, there is some concern with this prospect, which would be detrimental to the already battered Brazilian economy.
“If you can turn off a light in your house, turn it off. I ask you please. Do not use the elevator. Showering is nice, but if you can take a cold shower, it is much healthier. Help Brazil,” the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, during a live connection from his social networks in September.
The case of Nova Ponte synthesizes the climate crisis that Brazil is experiencing, where periods of drought are longer and longer and the rainy season lasts less and less. “The humidity enters the tropical belt, which is in the Amazon. This humidity is recycled by the forests and when it reaches the height of the Andes Mountains, it undergoes a diversion towards the south. Deforestation is little by little interrupting this continuous water cycle that comes from the Amazon “, explains Antonio Giacomini, president of the Committee of Basins of the Tributaries of the Paranaíba River. This geographer adds that, if it were not for the tropical forests, central and southwestern Brazil would have a desert climate, since they are at the same latitude as the deserts of Africa and Australia.
The relationship between deforestation and drought is a proven fact for the scientific world. In a recent report, the United Nations warns that the planet will face serious environmental and economic damage if countries do not adapt to the new climatic conditions. In Brazil, the drought is already causing disturbing weather phenomena, such as the gigantic clouds of dust that in recent weeks have scared the inhabitants of several cities in the State of São Paulo. It is further proof that climate collapse is just around the corner.
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