Brazilians truly have a love / hate relationship with water. Either there is way too much of it, causing floods and landslides that kill people and leave them homeless or it's in such short supply that there isn't enough to drink, let alone do anything else.
One might ask themselves why in a country that accounts for fully 12 percent of the world's freshwater supply (approx. 8233 cu. km or more than Russia and Canada combined) is this so? Well first of all the average Brazilian has absolutely no concept of the importance of this resource, in fact rarely ever thinks about it until the “caixa de água” is empty and there's not a drop to drink. They mismanage the water supply, misuse and waste what they do have, don't conserve the precious liquid, do little if anything to recycle or reuse it and then they cry profusely and blame the government at all levels for the drastic results of their own carelessness.
For example, right now Brazil is experiencing the hottest summer in the past 7 decades. In São Paulo (state) the reservoirs are at historical all-time lows and SABESP, the public utility responsible for water and sewer, is warning the population that if they don't cut their consumption habits drastically they could end up without any water at all.
Yet, one need not look farther than a few doors down the street to see flagrant abuses despite the dire warnings from SABESP. The neighbor (or her domestic) out watering down the sidewalk is a good example, and for what? Does she think it's like a plant and it's going to grow? Does she just like watching it flow down the street into the nearest sewer? Maybe it's because that to a Brazilian a little bit of dust inside the house seems like a fate worse than death? Or, there's the mindless “macho” idiot who's out there day-after-day washing his car, even though it's so damned old that the dirt is probably the only thing holding it together anyway! Does he buy a pistol grip type hose nozzle that shuts off the flow of water when he puts down the hose? Even though they're available in every hardware store and “Loja de R$1,99” in the blessed country, not a chance the clod would even think of it. He is oblivious to the fact that he puts down the hose and more water runs right down the sewer drain than he ever uses to actually wash the car. Then comes the end of the month and the jerk complains about how high the water bill is! Go figure.
Brazilians are notorious for taking 30 minute showers, many of them even take several a day. They're absolutely obsessed with cleanliness. They all leave their taps running while brushing their teeth, rather than shut it off until they actually need the water. Housewives or their domestics wash laundry almost every single day, rather than once a week when they have a full load that would even justify washing at all. Then rather than “re-purpose” the water from the washing machine, perhaps for washing down the sidewalk instead of just using fresh potable water for that task, they just let it run down the drain too. Even though they all know there are areas of this country that have been locked in the grips of a drought for years and people and livestock are dying of thirst, do they care about how much water THEY waste? Not a chance.
In a country that has so much rain each year, do they ever think of rainwater harvesting; using the resource that falls freely from the sky for all their domestic and commercial non-drinking water consumption? Again the answer is not a chance! That would be too simple, doing something that mankind, plants and even some animals have done since the beginning of time; capturing and using rainwater. It's a “no-brainer”, but would the average Brazilian think of it? Hardly!
Then there's the flip side of the coin. In a country that has torrential rainfalls throughout the entire year; Brazil seems to be a country totally unprepared for rain. The government and major utilities that provide water mismanage it's collection, retention and distribution. When the rains come they just can't handle it and rather than finding some way to store the excess water elsewhere they just open the floodgates on the reservoirs and let it pour out, flooding the adjacent countryside sometimes with devastating results. When it rains in Brazil everything stops it appears like a country totally unprepared for rain, there are massive floods and landslides because in most cases the land has been urbanized without any control, the natural ground cover has been stripped away to make room for housing, commercial buildings, cattle, factories, to such an extent that there is nothing to hold back the water, to absorb it back into the ground and it just flows with ever growing force and destroys everything in its path. The government allows uncontrolled development that strips away this vegetation, but doesn't require anyone to replace that ground cover in some other location or form, hence the flooding.
It's hard to feel for many of them too. If you look at ANY news report about flooding in urban areas what do you see everywhere? Garbage, old tires, sofas, mattresses and anything else you could possibly imagine floating everywhere. Why? Simply because Brazilians all have the disgusting habit to throwing their garbage and unwanted, unused refuse anywhere they feel like it. Just look at any vacant lot in any part of the city and you'll see exactly what I mean. They can't deny it. Yet, when the rains come, the sewers get plugged up with all their trash and the inevitable flooding happens, rather than accept their own parcel of the blame they whine and cry and blame the government for not doing enough to prevent the floods. Pure rubbish! São Paulo City government spends an absolute fortune collecting the junk (not counting the normal garbage collection) that just gets tossed everywhere. They collect tons of rubbish, waste building materials, sofas, furniture, and the like every single day of the week. I've seen it. What happens? Go back to the same location the very next day and it looks like the city crew had never been there, there is just as much new junk thrown there as there was the day before.
So I say to all Brazilians, wherever they may be… Don't come crying to me about your troubles with water. Wake up and smell the coffee, people! Start taking a long hard look at how you use and abuse this precious natural resource that we all depend on for our very lives! WATER.
Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team
The Brazilians' LOVE / HATE Relationship With Water
I agree! I'm brazilian and I also think that some people here don't know the value of water.
Well written, and thank you for your concern.
Best wishes,
Monique
Hi Monique,
On behalf of the entire Expat-blog Team, welcome on board.
Thanks for your comment it's really nice to get positive feedback from someone who isn't an expat and therefore lives with the problem on a day-to-day basis throughtout a lifetime.
Yes, unfortunately we all seem to take water for granted and misuse it, however here in Brazil it really seems to be a more serious problem.
Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team
wj
It is no better in south east asia either. And here in Vientiane, Laos, because of all the unprecedented construction of hotels, office blocks, and houses, supply cannot keep up with demand. Where my family live they now only have water in the street for 3 hours a day.
The wife and the other residents have gone to the local village police who have written a letter to the water supply company so awaiting the results but that will be slow in coming and will involve us having to pay. I have offered to come over from Australia to help sort out the problem but the wife has siad no as she knows my way of approaching the matter. !!! 
Here it's mostly just hate. They turn it off like it's Libyan oil.
I live in Manaus, we have a cistern on the roof and a well drilled deep enough to be very free of contaminates. The purpose of the well and the cistern is for water to bath and wash clothes with. Since we live close enough to the Amazon river the water supply is very constant in the aquifer. I can make a pot of coffee with the tap water (from the well), but to be safe I bring it to a full boil. We also get a large water cooler bottle of water for drinking purposes. The water we get from the tap probably is also safe to drink but If we were going to drink it we would boil it first. Water conservation is practiced by myself and my wife. That said we also get torrential rainfall here which turns a lot of the streets into rivers with the biggest problem being the garbage left out at the curb for pick up at night sometimes gets washed into the storm sewers clogging them badly. A more uniform way of keeping the trash from being washed into the sewers, and thus into the river would be helpful and may solve some pollution issues.
I live in Goiania GO. here are my observations.
This problem has two roots. First is the rural centric culture. Brasilians just don't see their natural resources as finite. Second is the failure of the government to educate these people and lead this country into THIS millennium I fear that these failures will be all too apparent during the world cup and the Olympics. The world will judge.
Brasil is the country of the future, and always will be.
JohnC wrote:I live in Manaus, we have a cistern on the roof and a well drilled deep enough to be very free of contaminates. The purpose of the well and the cistern is for water to bath and wash clothes with. Since we live close enough to the Amazon river the water supply is very constant in the aquifer. I can make a pot of coffee with the tap water (from the well), but to be safe I bring it to a full boil. We also get a large water cooler bottle of water for drinking purposes. The water we get from the tap probably is also safe to drink but If we were going to drink it we would boil it first. Water conservation is practiced by myself and my wife. That said we also get torrential rainfall here which turns a lot of the streets into rivers with the biggest problem being the garbage left out at the curb for pick up at night sometimes gets washed into the storm sewers clogging them badly. A more uniform way of keeping the trash from being washed into the sewers, and thus into the river would be helpful and may solve some pollution issues.
I was told by everyone, never drink from the tap in Manaus. Even if no one had told me, I still wouldn't.
When I lived in Manaus that was the very first warning I was given upon arrival...... NEVER DRINK THE WATER they said it's almost poison. I believe it too, just the smell would put you off drinking it. Besides, beer is cheaper.
Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team
I would not drink from the municipal water supply but we are not connected to that as we have a well that is considered far safer than the municipal water as it is 300' feet deep and into the natural aquifer. The reason we have a well is that the cost for the city water is expensive, why pay for water that is not safe to drink. I often wondered if you got a coke with ice in it here you have to wonder how the ice was made. I never ask for ice in my coke I ask for a chilled bottle or can
In many restaurants, snack bars and the like in Brazil you'll often see signs that say their ice cubes and juices are made with either filtered or bottled water. I've seen all kinds of these signs over the years, they're especially common in bus depots.
I live on a chacara in Goias. I LOVE it. We have a deep well and a river nearby. The water on tap is clean, but we still keep bottles in the house. our property is large so contamination from others is not an issue. I know I could not afford this life in the USA and every day I wake up to the fresh air and chirping birds, makes me grateful to be alive. BTW we are 14 KM fro the city which is just great!
Judging from his famous line "Something is rotten (in the state of) Denmark", it's obvious that William Shakespeare never had seen any of the Brazilian beaches.
Just a thought before you take to the beaches for a day of fun in the surf. Even in Brazil's two richest cities, São Paulo and Rio, there is little more than primary separation done in the way of sewage treatment. In other words they separate out just the big "nasty bits". The rest of the efluent goes directly into the ocean virtually in its raw state. Most of the main sewage outfalls for SABESP in São Paulo and for the corresponding sanitation company in Rio are located, you guessed it, near the most popular beaches. In most other Brazilian costal cities the sewage gets pumped into the ocean in its raw state.
Whenever, I have seen any publication of the fecal coliform counts for any of the costal area of São Paulo state and Rio de Janeiro almost every last one of the most popular beaches has been listed as "unfit for swimming". Unfortunately I don't think this information gets made public on a daily basis. Recently in Rio the sea was blanketed with sludgy, brown, smelly foam and people were actually swimming and surfing in it without the slightest perocupation. Government officials try to put a smiling face on it saying it's just the natural aggitation of the algas and turbulence of the sea. Who buys that tired old line anyway, other than Brazilians? We all know exactly what that foam is!!! We don't need lab tests - we just use our noses.
Think twice before swimming at any of the beaches on the São Paulo or Rio coastline!!!
wjwoodward wrote:Judging from his famous line "Something is rotten (in the state of) Denmark", it's obvious that William Shakespeare never had seen any of the Brazilian beaches.
Que? Marcellus is talking about the ghost being an evil spirit rather than Hamlet's father.
They are such pretty beaches to look at though, It would be beneficial to really clean up the discharges into the ocean. Brazil a country that is so concerned with not destroying the rain forest, Yet they have a beautiful resource as their beaches and let them smell like ......... and make it dangerous to swim in.
It would benefit business, the hotels, the venders on the beaches etc, because they would have more customers.
If Brazil wants to become a 1st world country in status, they will have to shed the 3rd world mentality on use or misuse of natural resources. It will take a concerted effort of all the people and pride in your country to get envolved to accomplish this. I notice the lax attitude of some Brazilians here in Manaus. It is OK to toss garbage out onto the streets, OK to have sewers draining onto the streets and the awful smell of that. It will require a change of public attitude to sanitation and what is OK to do in that aspect. Just because this is how it is done does not make it right.
There is a paradox here Brazilians are so conscious about their bodies being clean and not smelling. Yet the streets stink with garbage, urine and sewage.
In Japan, we have to re-use water because water prices is expensive and japanese people are conscient that is necessary to preserve the quality of life.
We re-use water after bath or shower and rinsing water of washing machines, depositing in buckets to re-use to clean bathroons, to flush the toilet, wash back yard, etc...
New models of washing machines have filters to re-use bath water and use fresh water only to rinse.
After wash salads and fruits, we re-use the water to wash dishes, rinsing with clean and fresh water... or to care vases of flowers or plants.
We use only the necessary water when and where is necessary.
May be is necessary think about re-use water in Brazil too.
Okada
Despite the fact that Brazilians pay ridiculously high prices for water, they don't do any of those things, Okada. They just continue to waste water like there was no end of it in sight. In São Paulo they're now suffering the results, the reservoir is almost empty and the only thing they can think of is TAKING water from other states, like Rio de Janeiro.
I think you've hit on a great idea! We should send all Brazilians to Japan where maybe they would learn how important water really is and how to conserve it. Thanks so much for your posting it's nice to see that some people care about this planet.
In middle of March, when I stayed in Sao Paulo, I watched in TV News, empty reservatories immages and I have commented what I do in Japan to safe water ... I hope that Sao Paulo come to overcome this situation.
Okada
The State of São Paulo, in the midst of epic drought conditions, with the Cantareira Reservoir at its lowest level in recorded history still just can't seem to get their act together no matter how hard they try.
Sabesp, the company that provides basic sanitation and water to the greater part of the state, has not come to terms with the problems; nor has the state government. It has been like watching an ostrich bury its head in the sand and refuse to take it back out.
Sabesp has instituted discounts for consumers who use less water, which was a good start I agree. They have now sent out agents to fine those idiots who still insist on abusing the water supply available with such absurd practices as washing their sidewalks with copious amounts of drinkable water, washing their cars in the street and leaving the hose running the whole time rather than buying a hose nozzle with a shut-off valve, over watering lawns and gardens, etc. This too is a step in the right direction and should have been started years ago, not just as a reaction in a crisis.
What Sabesp, and all other sanitation companies in Brazil, haven't done is to take the concept of preventive maintenance in any serious way. Scenes like the photo above, where a timely repair of a small water leak have been ignored until there is a major water main failure, are all too common everywhere in Brazil. I know because I've experienced this first-hand in São Paulo. You notice a small amount of water spurting up through the pavement in the street or sidewalk in front of your home, call Sabesp to report the problem and you can be sure that you're going to wait for weeks for anyone to show up and access the problem, much less resolve it. Chances are that in the interval there is going to be a major rupture and they will only then arrive to repair it. All the while precious drinking water flows down the streets into sewer drains and simply goes to waste.
And the State, what are they doing to reduce dependency on the drinking water supply for non-drinking purposes? Little or nothing, in fact. When other countries have embraced the concept of rainwater harvesting (for non-drinking purposes such as lawn and garden irrigation, washing dishes and laundry, toilet flushing, filling swimming pools, car washing, etc.) this is light years away from catching on in Brazil, if ever. The water supply in São Paulo is almost gone completely and it's about to start looking like many drought ravaged parts of the Northeast of Brazil very soon. Isn't it high time that the government started thinking in terms of creating tax incentives or low-cost loans for homeowners and small businesses to retrofit with rainwater captation systems and a secondary plumbing system in order to reduce the use of drinkable water to actually drinking it and cooking with it, and to use harvested rainwater for everything else?????
Come on Brazil, wake up and smell the (Brazilian) COFFEE!!!
I read the OP with much interest. Yes, it seems that water may become a more precious resource than oil.
I have a Brazilian husband - well, he's practically Brazilian kkk - who showers twice a day with no regard for how much water he is using. And when I pointed out a leaky faucet in the bathroom, he didn't seem too concerned. Still, he is my husband, and I love him...and I will try to educate him on the importance of conserving water. 
http://environment.about.com/od/globalw … esting.htmhttp://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/ … n-Oil.htmlhttps://insights.petercam.com/environme … s-than-oilhttp://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/17/weeki … atile.html
Showing him the water bill and discussing just how much could be saved by taking shorter showers, fixing leaky faucets, taking the car to fill up at a gas station that offers a wash with a fill-up, sweeping the sidewalks instead of hosing them down, installing a low volume flush valve (or putting a sealed plastic bottle full of water) in the toilet tank could possibly save you each month will probably have much more educational value for him.
These two photos were taken of Ingrid Venturini sitting on a dock with her son at the Cantareira Reservoir in São Paulo. Both photos were taken this year... still Brazilians are using potable water like there's no tomorrow.
We have been having our worst drought in Texas history.Some parts of the state since 1999.They say we could be heading towards a mega drought or 100 year drought .All new houses are required to have water saving devices.A lot of people are good at conservation but I still see many wasting water etc... It's just sickening !!!!!!! Your picture is soo sad !!!!!!! The lakes in central Texas are at their lowest levels ever ! We pray for rain everyday !!!!! We can't buy rain during Texas drought! ugh!!!!!!!!!!
wjwoodward wrote:[img align=c]https://scontent-b-gru.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10423899_786418131395200_5161699757577041731_n.jpg?oh=e6070b484dac054c68ad98fd35c9ea45&oe=54EAFA9B[/url]
These two photos were taken of Ingrid Venturini sitting on a dock with her son at the Cantareira Reservoir in São Paulo. Both photos were taken this year... still Brazilians are using potable water like there's no tomorrow.
That picture should be posted in the news. It is serious in Sao Paulo yet they continue to waste water like there is no problem. Water is one of the essential things that all life needs to survive Going 3 days without water can be life threatening and 4 days you will be dead see excerpt attached
"You can live 3 minutes without air, though we don't recommend trying. In a harsh environment — it's snowing, say — you have 3 hours to survive without shelter. After 3 days, you need water or you'll perish. You can make it 3 weeks without food, though we promise you that won't be fun."
Drinking contaminated water can make you very sick and even speed up the process as you might hasten dehydration that way by expelling the contaminates
The photo was published in São Paulo John. The people there just don't care, and they won't until the water is absolutely gone. Then they'll blame the government, not themselves.
wjwoodward wrote:The photo was published in São Paulo John. The people there just don't care, and they won't until the water is absolutely gone. Then they'll blame the government, not themselves.
That is even the problem in the US not just with water but with political matters. No one wants to take responsibility for any of their actions any more. It is always some one else that is responsible, no one thinks that responsibility begins with the person that is you . It is easy to blame someone else for problems you cause but it takes more responsibility to accept the blame and correct it.
When the water is absolutely gone the problem will fix itself, Without water the problem will be gone in 3 days to a week and they won't need to fix anything nature always has the cure, They will just die. If they wont fix it nature will without their help. Its just sheer stupidity to ignore it and it is illogical, But whoever said the human race is logical or mature.
Hard to figure out the government of this screwed up country!!!
Brazil is in the midst of one of the worst droughts in its recorded history, the Cantareira Reservoir System has all but completely dried up, and both water rationing and heavy fines for water mis-use are in effect. The northeastern states of Brazil haven't had a decent rainfall in some of them for nearly a decade now. So you would be excused for thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, the government should be setting a good example for the population of this country about the conscientious use of water. If you did think like that you'd be dead wrong!!!
Petrobras, Brazil's largest state-owned company is controlled by the government in everything it does. Here in Macaé-RJ (Base Imbetiba) the company has constructed a covered walkway (passarela) that extends about 1 Km. from it's massive parking facility to the base. It also continues covering all the thousands of meters of internal sidewalks inside the whole complex. The structure has a gently sloped coated metal roof that makes it perfect for collection and recycling of rainwater.
We're talking about thousands and thousands of square meters of collecting surface area here, that could harvest hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of water each year. Yet, that is NOT on their agenda. All of the rainwater will go directly down the drain. Yep, that's right.... right down the drain. At the same time Petrobras is using potable water to flush hundreds upon hundreds of toilets, supply bathroom sinks and even water the acres upon acres of grass and gardens in the complex. All of this could be done with harvested rainwater, but no that would be too logical. The costs involved in modifying the plumbing systems to facilitate this would be minimal compared to the savings generated on their water bill. Also the cost of building the passarela with the capability of harvesting that rainwater in its construction stage would be almost zero. On the other hand, retrofitting the passarela at some future date in order to make use of the abundant rainfall here would have a staggering cost.
It just goes to show you what happens when politicians are more interested in bribes, graft and diverting funds from the public coffers than they are about the environment. What happens when the government blatantly displayes the attitude "Do what I say and not what I do!" And when the government hasn't enough vision and foresight to look beyond the next fiscal quarter. SHAMEFUL
What is even more perplexing is that when we're talking about a company that has been rocked by scandal and gained notoriety, not only in Brazil, but worldwide for its corruption and gross mismanagement that they and the government would not see this as an exercise in damage control and diverting the public attention from the scandals (in some small way). Also, that IBAMA, the Brazilian environmental watchdog agency (toothless as it may be) wouldn't have mandated that rainwater harvesting be part of the project when Petrobras applied for the necessary environmental licenses to start the project, or that the construction company (Tridimensional Engineering) would not have at least suggested it and presented two bids, both with and without the capabilities of harvesting rainwater for Petrobras' consideration.
Cheers,
James Expat-blog Experts Team
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