Brazil loses 37 percent of water supply to leaks, says report

By Ben Tavener

SAO PAULO

Brazil lost 37 percent of treated water before it reached its final destination in 2013, according to a government report released Wednesday.

Some regions lost far more water, particularly the North region, where nearly 51 percent of supplies was wasted. Individual states fared even worse. The northern state of Amapá saw a staggering 76.5 percent of supplies lost.

The Federal District, location of the capital, Brasília, achieved the best result, 27.3 percent, but still fell short of the level the report suggested Brazil should be achieving –a national target of around 20 percent.

The National Sanitation Information System, the Ministry of Cities-linked agency that authored the report, said most of the water was lost through "leaks in water mains, networks, branches, connections and reservoirs."

The report is particularly pertinent as parts of the country are currently experiencing restrictions in their water supplies by local utility companies after reservoir levels plummeted during some of the worst droughts in living memory.

In São Paulo state, home to more than 44 million people, homes have seen water pressure reduced, or cut entirely at night or on alternate days. Some areas have complained of having water turned off for days at a time.

After many months of denying that rationing was in place, São Paulo state Gov. Geraldo Alckmin, who won re-election to a fourth term in October, admitted for the first time Jan. 14 that the practice was being implemented.

A number of reservoir systems feed the state, the country's most populous. The Cantareira system that supplies 6.5 million people in the Greater São Paulo area, was running at 5.5 percent Wednesday, according to Sabesp, São Paulo state's chief water company.

Alckmin announced Wednesday that use of the Billings reservoir, located to the south of the city, would be increased, and previously unused stocks known as "dead volumes" would be used to bolster supplies to the Cantareira system, which some experts have said could dry out by March.

The government agency behind the report was cited by the G1 news portal as saying that local water companies had much work to do to alleviate the situation, and that "in times of water scarcity, the management of water loss plays a key role in structured measures that service providers can take."

High temperatures in the city of São Paulo are currently also exacerbating the situation. The average high temperature for the first 20 days of 2015 was 91.8 Fahrenheit (33.2 Celcius), well above levels seen last January at 90 Fahrenheit (32°C) – the highest in 72 years of records.

The blazing temperatures have also caused record-high demand for electricity, in turn putting immense strain on the national grid.

Eleven states and the Federal District saw disruptions in energy supplies Monday, after local power companies were ordered by the national grid operator to reduce power in the system to avoid a collapse of the entire network.