São Paulo Water Crisis Linked to Growth, Pollution and Deforestation

Endowed with the Amazon and other mighty rivers, an array of huge dams and one-eighth of the world’s fresh water, Brazil is sometimes called the “Saudi Arabia of water,” so rich in the coveted resource that some liken it to living above a sea of oil.

But in Brazil’s largest and wealthiest city, a more dystopian situation is unfolding:  the taps are starting to run dry.

As southeast Brazil grapples with its worst drought in nearly a century, a problem worsened by polluted rivers, deforestation and population growth, the largest reservoir system serving São Paulo is near depletion.  Many residents are already enduring sporadic water cutoffs, some going days without it.  Officials say that drastic rationing may be needed, with water service provided only two days a week.
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Experts say the origins of the crisis go beyond the recent drought to include an array of interconnected factors:  the city’s surging population growth in the 20th century; a chronically leaky system that spills vast amounts of water before it can reach homes; notorious pollution in the Tietê and Pinheiros rivers traversing the city (their aroma can induce nausea in passers-by); and the destruction of surrounding forests and wetlands that have historically soaked up rain and released it into reservoirs.

Deforestation in the Amazon River basin, hundreds of miles away, may also be adding to São Paulo’s water crisis.  Cutting the forest reduces its capacity to release humidity into the air, diminishing rainfall in southeast Brazil, according to a recent study by one of the country’s leading climate scientists.

Officials also point to global warming.  “Climate change has arrived to stay,” Geraldo Alckmin, the governor of São Paulo State, said this month.  “When it rains, it rains too much, and when there’s drought, it’s way too dry.”

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