Brazil: Lowest Rainfall Since 1930, But Let's Not Get Alarmist And Talk About Rationing, No, No . .
Yesterday, it was reported that levels in the Cantareira water system, which supplies millions of people, had dropped to 5.2 per cent of capacity – having fallen every day since 11 January.
“Last year, we were operating below the record low. Now we are operating below last year,” said Izabella Teixeira, the Environment minister, on Friday, as ministers from six departments met to discuss the crisis. “In 84 years of monitoring, we have never seen in south-eastern Brazil such a sensitive and worrying situation.”
President Dilma Rousseff has approved government funding to speed up work to divert water from the Paraiba do Sul basin to the Cantareira system as an emergency measure. In addition, there are plans for a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of saving water. As well as São Paulo, two other states in the south-east region – Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais – have been asked to save water as the drought continues.
EDIT
The state environment secretary, Andre Correa, acknowledged that the state of Rio de Janeiro was experiencing “the worst water crisis in its history”. He said that the situation in São Paulo was “infinitely worse” but ruled out rationing for at least six months. Meanwhile, the president of Rio de Janeiro’s water company Cedae admitted for the first time that the state might face water rationing by the end of the year. The warning came as the Paraibuna, the biggest reservoir supplying Rio, ran dry for the first time since 1978.
EDIT
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/brazil-drought-its-a-really-dry-january-in-the-south-american-country-with-rainfall-is-at-its-lowest-level-since-1930-10000734.html
