São Paulo (Brazil) is running out of water

This is my first thread, so... not sure if this is the right forum, sorry.

SÃO PAULO—Brazil's federal agency tasked with protecting the common good recommended Tuesday that water be rationed in the parts of São Paulo state most affected by the region's worst drought in decades.

The watershed known as the Cantareira System, which supplies 45% of the São Paulo metropolitan region, could run out of water in 100 days, according to a study cited by the Public Ministry.

Rationing should be implemented immediately in the areas of the state that get their water from Cantareira, the ministry said.

"Despite the delicate situation and the forecast for scarce rain in the next few months, the government of São Paulo has ruled out rationing" and only offered a discount on water bills to people who cut their water use, the ministry said in a note.

About 30% less rain fell this year through Monday in the watershed, exacerbating a situation already made bad by a 10% precipitation deficit in the same period last year, according to weather consultants Somar Meteorologia.

The first half of the year is the rainy season in São Paulo, when normally heavy rains help fill reservoirs that power hydroelectric stations and provide drinking water. The lack of rain has already hurt Brazil's sugar and coffee crops, and forced manufacturers to reduce their water use.

São Paulo state's governor, Geraldo Alckmin, has said that rationing won't be necessary in São Paulo city and its metropolitan region, which is home to about 19 million people and much of Brazil's industry.

The governor's office referred a request by The Wall Street Journal for comment to São Paulo state's water company, known as Sabesp.

Sabesp insisted the measures already implemented have cut water use by more than rationing would and that the company has enough water to supply the region until the rainy season starts again.

Rationing "would penalize the population and could produce the opposite effect of that (the Public Ministry) wants," the company said in a statement. "Sabesp has 40 years of history and the best sanitation specialists in Latin America. We're confident about the measures we've already taken."

Source

São Paulo is the biggest city in Brazil and it's also very economically important (I'd say it's THE most economically important city in Brazil), so this is obviously extremely serious. In the beginning of the year, they kept cutting our water without warning, from morning until night. You'd simply wake up, go to the bathroom for a shower and... yep, no water.

a reply to: LukeDAP

S&F for your first thread...

I was in São Paulo years ago on a family trip.
Mom and dad kept us kids well away from the bad places so I have nothing but good memories from my one and only visit.

Still I hear the city proper is surrounded by shanty-towns and that makes me wonder how many of those folks have tapped into city water lines too.

a reply to: HardCorps

Yes, shanty-towns are definitely a problem. It's somewhat common to hear about them "stealing" water/electricity/etc, although it's usually from others, and not from the city itself. Still, it's a problem.

The main problem, though, is ignorance. We all know there's not enough water out there. If you drive around the city for one hour, you'll see people washing their cars, sidewalks, windows, watering their gardens without a care in the world. They don't put some water in a bucket, they don't turn off the hose... nothing.

And the fact that the government refuses to do anything other than offer you a discount if you don't use too much water... well, in 100 days, I'll let you know what it's like to live without water.

a reply to: LukeDAP

We kind of have the same problem here in the States.
See I live in Colorado and this year we had a record snowfall...

the spring runoff even cause a lot of flooding here...

But downstream of the Colorado... the river that supplies cities like LA, Phoenix and Los Vegas... their out of water too... Odd how on my end the river's are still running high but somehow it's not making it to where it's needed most?

Sao Paulo is the only big city I've ever been interested in living in.
I'll visit one day..

I mostly commented to mark the thread to return to as I can't say much on the subject.

I wonder how much water was consumed by World Cup-related tourism and activities. There was immense concern that the city wouldn't be ready to accommodate the event. Were they half-right?

originally posted by: chasingbrahman
I wonder how much water was consumed by World Cup-related tourism and activities. There was immense concern that the city wouldn't be ready to accommodate the event. Were they half-right?

The tourists probably used a lot of water too, especially since it was incredibly hot and I'm willing to bet some of them weren't used to our weather.

However, the event was a success. No major problems, although I did read about some foreigners who got really drunk/high and caused a bit of trouble, but nothing serious - as in, nothing that doesn't happen here usually. Some people got mugged, a few women got raped... sad to say, but not uncommon. In fact, São Paulo was safer than usual during the WC and the subway worked much better too.

The only bad things about it were the corruption, all the money spent that is probably in a few politicians' pockets now, and our loss to the Germans... which was humiliating. Other than those two, it was pretty cool.

a reply to: LukeDAP

The Governor is a certified idiot. They are going to run out of water in 100 days and he still says they are fine. It seems to be a common thing around the world today. Idiots running things.

They may run out of water, but they will never run out of the hottest women on earth. Good gravy.

I hope that they won't allow the US to "help" them. Water shortages shouldn't be happening. This is something that is above all other problems, if it's real.