Threats to water

Scarcity – The confused development of  cities, togheter with the occupation of  water springs regions and the increase of population, cause the exhaustion of natural water reserves and  push people  to look for water soucers  each time  further away. Scarcity is a result  consumption growth,  wrong uses of natural resoucers, deforestation, polution, wastes, and mainly from the absence of public  policies to promote sustainable uses,  society involvement and  environmental education.
 

Waste – Occurs as a result from wrong utilization and absence of sanitary education. Lack of information and orientation to the citizens are the main causes of waste, that takes place at the citizens very homes. There are also losses of water related to technical and managerial deficiencies at the water supply services companies or institutions. As an example, the waste generated by water leakage or ruptures on the supply nets. These losses are also related with the lack of investment in reutilization programmes for industrial and commercial purposes, as treated water after being used is thrown back into rivers without any previous treatment, as effluents and sewage and therefore polluted. There are statistics that show that in Brazil, around 70% of treated water is wasted.  

Where do we spend our water?

At home – on average 78% from water comsuption is spent in the bathroom
At the shower – one long shower can waste from 95 to 180 liters of clean water. Baths with a maximum of fifteen minutes save water and energy. Let the shower run, get wet, close it, use the soap and then run it again to rinse, instead of spending the whole time with the shower running.

Brushing the teeth – to brush the teeth with tap running consumes up to 25 liters of water. To save water, first brush the teeth. Afterwards, just run the tap to fill one glass for the rinse.

Flushing – in Brazil, a toilet valve can consume up to 20 liters of treated water flushed just once. Press the valeve just once and do not dispose solid garbage within the toilet.

At the tap – a running tap can consume from twelve to twenty liters of water per minute. Leaking, this amount rises to 46 liters per day.

In dish washing – washing dishes, pans and tableware with the tap running continuously ends up wasting 105 liters. First brush and soap, then rinse everything up at once.

In car washing – with water running from a hose continuously, an average of six hundred liters are wasted. Using a bucket, consumption is 60 liters.

  Sabesp (the São Paulo state public agency for water supply) estimates that the  State loses, dayly, 40%  from the treated water, what represents around  1.3 billion of lites. With this wasted amount, it would be possible to  supply  two cities  the size of Curitiba (PS).
 

* Sources – Handbook of Tiete River – SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation, Núcleo Pró-Tiete and 5 Elementos – Institute for Education and Environmental Research.
 

Misuse – One of the activities that most wastes water is irrigation by sprinklers or the use of ducts, using inefficient methods. Not reutilizing the water for industrial activities is another major waste factor and is related to the lack of efficient public policies of management.   

Deforestation – in areas where the forest protects rivers, lakes and springs borders deforastation means a serious problem of obstruction by sediments along the water courses. The transportation of materials and rests endanger the quality of water. Water spring borders deforastation also means their progressive disappearance. Without the covering and protection of tree roots, the borders of rivers and lakes fall down and give way to floods, overflowing and deviating the natural courses of water.

Pollution – during centuries humans have dumped sewage from the cities and industial effluents with high amounts of toxic  substances and heavy metals into rivers. What has resulted in the death of major and important rivers – in São Paulo State, the major example is Tietê river, that flows throughout the State, from East to the West, ranging from 1.100 km, followed by the Jundiaí, Piracicaba, Pinheiros and other very degraded and pollution-affected water courses. Besides direct pollution, caused by sewage dumping, lack of effluents treatment and sanitary infrastructure, there is the so called “diffused” pollution, that happens by the dragging of garbage and many other sorts of solid wastes when it rains. As the rain washes up the atmosphere, it also brings dust and toxic gases to the water reservoirs. 

In rural areas, the major problems are chemicals used in crops, followed by the garbage that is disposed at rivers, lakes and water reservoirs borders or directly into the waters. Besides that, some activities, such as pig-breeding, cattle breeding and building stockyards next to the water sources also have a negative impact on the rivers and water bodies.

Other pollution causes are accidents with dangerous or toxic loads, rupture or leakage of oil supply nets, sewage drains and clandestine sanitary pipes. In some regions, sewage ditches or rubbish collecting and stocking areas can contaminate the ground water.

Water worldwide crisis and social unbalance

Water’s scarcity in the world is aggravated by social inequality and lack of natural resources susteinable management. According to the numbers presented by United Nation Organization, it is clear that to control the use of water means to hold power.

Differences registered between developing countries and the developed ones are shocking and reveal that the world hidric resources crisis is directly connected with social inequality. In region where the lack of water is alredy in critical availability levels, such as countries in the African continent, average water consumption per person is 19 cubic meters perday, what from ten to fifteen liters/person. While in New York there is an exaggerated treated and potable water consumption, where an inhabitnt can consume up to 2 thousand liters a day.

According to United Nations Funds for Childhood, less than half from the world population has access to potable water. Agriculture irrigation has a 73% share in the water consumption, 21% goes for industries and only 6% is consumed at homes. One billion and 200 million (35% from world population) do not have access to treated water. One billion and 800 million people (43% of world population) do not rely on proper basic sewage collection services. Unfortunately, the conclusion is that 10 million people dye every year from intestine diseases carried by not  treated water.      

Until 2000, reports from World Bank showed  that it would be necessary to invest US$ 800 billion in  water treatment and supply to reduce the social inequalities and face the lack  of basic sewage collection, as an important means of promoting public health.

 According to Martin Gambril, representative of World Bank, the economic value of water is  a crucial  factor looking the search of  sustainable development. “The Nile river case, in Africa, is the most evident example that the water’s value is not only an economic subject but also a survival  matter.  Egypt government has alredy declared to  the Ethiopian politicians, ( more than 80% from Nile’s water come from Ethiopia) that if they  draw out just one more drop from the river, it would be interpreted as a war declaration. Is the extreme of the crisis and the conflicts around the water uses”.

The Agenda 21,  elaborated during the International United Nations Conference for Environment - Eco-92, dedicate one special chapter for the water  issue, where sustainable uses of water resources were foreseen.  and guiding all nations to direct their policies for the extreme necessity to recuperate and ensure the water quality. More than ten years later, the world is still debating the subject, as rivers and surface waters are still constantly been degraded and the water consumption patterns are still unsustainable.

To revert this situation,  Agenda 21 recommends  real  involvement of all society in the water  management. The II Internation Forum of Water,  held  in 2000 in Haia – Holland, produced the document called “Vision 21 – Water for the population”, that intends to  make possible that all nations have access to basic conditions of sewage collection and water supply, until 2025.
In  a country full of contrasts such as  Brazil, which is the second  major power in water reserves of the world, where – in some areas -  people live  with drought situations  similar to those  countries that almost  don’t have  water, the  water resources and sewage matter  touch deeply  power relations and  civil society participation  in the decision process.  According to Ninon Machado de Faria Leme Franco, director of Ipanema Institute and member of Interim Steerign Committee of Gender & Water Alliance, the most important conclusion of these documents produced by the Consuming Council for  Sewage and Potable Water, during the V  Symposium in November 2000, in Foz do Iguaçu, is that the access of water to  meet basic needs is a right for everybody.

“The fundamental question to ensure this right is not technological,  neither a lack of financial resources, but essentialy the  absence of communication  so that everyone can have access to proper information, in the right way.  The Rio-92 conclusions  emphasize that beyond the vital water  matters, to put an end to worldwide misery  it would be necessary that the world population had access to minimum hygiene, sewage services and potable water conditions. serts  asserts Ninon.
According to Samuel Barreto,  WWF Water Program coordinator  and the  representative of São Paulo Fórum of Basins Committees, all  these data and world treatys about water lead to the co-responsibility of the society to search solutions for the problem. “We can say that São Paulo state alredy accumulates a distinguished experience in management of water resources. There are more than fifteen years of partnership in the Piracicaba River basin, and the SOS Mata Atlântica Fundation works with the concept of hydrographic basin for ten years, with emphasis to the project Watching the Tiete, where all the monitors groups begin to act in basin committees and councils”.

“This is the  time to advance in  management of water resources process.  In order for this to happen, the next steps are: to approve  water use taxation, applying the money in the basin where it  has been collected, universalize the water subjects, eliminate bureaucratics obstacles and prejudices about  civil society participation and to strengthen the engagement of the whole society in basins organisms.”