Sao Paulo Reservoirs Now At 27% Of Capacity; Some Too Polluted To Use

[hatrack]

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A horse grazes on the cracked ground of the Atibainha dam as it dries up due to a prolonged drought in Nazare Paulista, São Paulo state, Oct. 17, 2014. Hit by Brazil's worst drought in 80 years, the two main reservoirs serving metropolitan São Paulo, South America's largest city, could dry out this year if relief does not arrive in the coming rainy season. Reuters

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An aerial view shows illegally built slums on the border of the polluted water of Billings reservoir in São Paulo, Feb. 12, 2015. According to local media, the Billings dam supplies 1.6 million people in greater São Paulo, and the state government wants to treat the water to be adequate for human consumption, adding to the complexity of securing a safe water supply during the drought. Reuters

Instead of rain, São Paulo has cracked earth and chaos as a devastating drought is making enemies out of neighbors in Brazil’s largest city, the site of a historic water shortage the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades. Many residents have gone to drastic measures to hoard the precious commodity in the face of tougher water use restrictions, pinched faucets and declining reservoirs. Local authorities fearing anarchy in the city of 11 million are considering bringing in the military to control what’s quickly spiraling into a war over resources.

São Paulo’s water crisis that began last year is the region’s worst drought in more than 80 years. Brazil is home to roughly 12 percent of the world’s fresh water, yet millions of residents in the country’s most populated metropolis have gone days on end without running water, according to the Guardian. The drought is the result of three consecutive years of record low rainfall, which the city relies on to replenish its depleted reservoirs. Today, the city’s reservoirs are at just 27 percent capacity, down from 40 percent in May 2014. Other reservoirs that aren’t at dangerously low levels are too polluted for human use.

Arguments have broken out among some water-strapped residents living in the city’s crowded apartment buildings in the midst of water rationing, Claire Rigby, a British journalist based in São Paulo, reported. Other city dwellers whose water was turned off for large chunks of the day took to the streets in February to protest the government turning off their taps.

Leaders met last week to discuss handling São Paulo’s worsening water crisis, with some raising concerns over a collapse in social order as residents become increasingly desperate. Officials pointed to the city of Itu, which broke out in intense protests and looting last year during the drought. “If a small city like Itu unleashed all of that in such a short time, imagine what could happen in a city like [São Paulo,]” Paulo Massato, engineer at São Paulo’s water facility, said during the conference, according to La Nueva Televisora del Sur.

EDIT

http://www.ibtimes.com/sao-paulo-drought-2015-photos-historic-water-crisis-brazil-show-city-brink-collapse-1912767

[daleanime]

1. kick, kick, kick....

[phantom power]

2. This might worry me, but...

SNOWBALL!

[Nihil]

3. Yay for humans! Breeding like yeast and likewise poisoning their own environment at the same time!

> Other reservoirs that aren’t at dangerously low levels are too polluted for human use.

Whoever would have thought that uncontrolled population growth combined with the
time-established "right" to shit wherever you want would have a consequence?