Sao Paulo is South America’s largest city, and is currently experiencing its worst drought in 50 years. So far, the drought has hurt corn and cotton crops, driven up prices of sugar and orange juice, interrupted production of beer and paper, and left cattle and goats to starve.
The drought and resulting threat to water supply is also putting a damper on outlooks for the World Cup, which is supposed start in Sao Paulo on June 12 — right in the middle of normal drought season. If rains resume in late February or March, the city should be able to avoid a major water crisis.
Sao Paulo’s drought mimics other severe droughts that are happening across the world, including California, where extreme drought has put seventeen rural communities in danger of running out of water in 60 to 120 days. In Iran, only five percent of the water remains in the biggest lake in the Middle East, though their long drought ended about two years ago.
A January study in the peer-reviewed journal Nature by drought researcher Aiguo Dai shows that across the world from 1923 to 2010, there has been a global trend of increased dryness, which is directly linked to climate change. Dai’s paper predicts “severe and widespread droughts in the next 30–90 years over many land areas resulting from either decreased precipitation and/or increased evaporation.”
Amid Epic Drought, South America’s Largest City Is Running Out of Water
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