More than 38% of Brazil’s treated water wasted
The amount of water lost in Brazil’s supply systems has been on the rise and now adds up to over 6.5 billion cubic meters a year, according to a study released Wednesday (Jun 5), the World Environment Day, by the Trata Brasil Institute and consultant GO Associados.
This total is equivalent to nearly seven times the useful volume in the Cantareira System, the main source serving the Greater São Paulo. In percentage terms, this means that 38.3 percent of the treated water was wasted before reaching its final destination.
In some parts of the country, the problem is even more critical. The percentage of loss in the North stands as high as 55.14 percent. In Roraima state, for every 100 liters provided by utilities, only 25 reach consumers. In the state of Amazonas, losses total 69 percent, compared to 66 percent in Amapá. In the Northeast, in turn, 46.25 percent of the water goes to waste. In Maranhão, this figure reaches 60 percent; and in Pernambuco, 52 percent. In São Paulo and in Paraná, this number was reported at 35 percent.
For comparative purposes, the study notes that, in Denmark, losses stand at 6.9 percent; in the US, 10.3 percent; and, in South Korea, 16.3 percent. In fact, Brazil showed poorer results than other Latin American countries, like Mexico, which wastes 24.1 percent of its treated water; Ecuador, 31.1 percent; and Peru, 35.5 percent.
Mounting losses
Furthermore, water losses have seen a quick growth in recent years. Data on 2015 reveal 36.7 percent rate, compared to 38.1 percent in 2016, and, in 2017—the most recent figures, which provide the basis for the current research—38.3 percent. The total sum lost by supply companies amounted to $2.95 billion a year.
Some states, however, showed much better results than the national average, like Goiás (26%) and Rio de Janeiro (31%).
Investment is scarce
Pedro Scazfuca, partner of GO Associados, believes that the scenario shows lack of interest in investment to reduce wastage in supply networks. “Efforts to reduce losses are lacking. The necessary investment hasn’t been done. The natural trend of a water supply network is to increase losses, because the structure gets older and more prone to waste,” he argued.
The cities that reported the best results are those that focus, not just on improvements in the supply network, but also on anti-fraud measures, the specialist remarked. “Commercial losses are significant for companies, if you think about revenues. Reducing fraud, improving readouts—these are all measures to bring losses down.”
Control
Hélio de Castro, head of São Paulo state’s sanitation watchdog Arsesp, says that, if control measures are improved, more drastic losses could come to light. “Indicators are likely to become worse,” he noted, pointing out that the data used as basis for the study are provided by water utilities themselves.
Gesner Oliveira, former president of the São Paulo State Sanitation Company (Sabesp), argues that wherever losses are considerably, investments to reduce waste tend to yield fruit for the companies. “Going from 68 to 48 percent is relatively easy, and yields are high,” he said. In systems with lower losses, companies have to make more efforts.
