WATER WARS: Taps run dry in Brazil’s biggest city as drought bites – TelegraphExcerpt –
It may have the world’s biggest water supply and the seventh biggest economy, but that’s not enough to keep water running during the country’s worst dry stretch since the 1930s
“There’s water but there’s also a lot of people. International standards say water stress is when levels fall below 1,500 cubic metres per person per year. Here, it’s 200 cubic metres. We’re experiencing a water situation like a semi-desert.”
Last month, there were government warnings that the reservoirs could dry up completely in four or five months.
And Professor Semensatto said water stress was likely to continue in São Paulo for four to five years, threatening not only the city’s economy but the rest of the country as well.