The labyrinth of pipes that make the water flow through your faucet is full of traps, which carry liters and liters of liquid away. Losses in the country reach more than 40%, according to the annual survey by Instituto Trata Brasil, released this Wednesday (1st).
The high percentage translates into an amount of water sufficient to supply about 66 million Brazilians in a period of one year. This is twice the number of people who do not have access to water in the country, the institute points out.
It is also possible to visualize this water loss in other ways. The Cantareira system, an essential water reservoir for supplying São Paulo, would have its cubic meters totally lost seven times in a single year, considering the volume of total liquid loss that occurs in Brazil.
But what exactly does “water loss” mean?
It is a broader expression that can be associated with a real loss in leaks (which is what you might be imagining at the moment) during distribution, but also with technical errors of measurement and unauthorized use, as in clandestine calls (all this part is considered an apparent/commercial loss).
The initial number of this text concerns the rate of loss in distribution considering the whole of Brazil, a percentage that has been growing year after year and concerns the relationship between the volume of water produced and consumed. From 38.1% in 2016, it reached more than 40% in 2020, the base year for the Brazilian survey data.
When looking at the rates of water loss in the regions of the country, the North is the one with the greatest loss in distribution, above 51%, followed by the Northeast region, with 46%.
“In addition, these regions are also the ones that have the worst water service, sewage collection and treatment indicators”, says the report.
The Midwest is the region with the lowest loss, 34%. Southeast and South have, respectively, 38% and 36%.
The trio of states that lead the loss of water in the distribution is composed of Amapá, Acre and Roraima, with, respectively, 74%, 62% and 60% of loss.
In São Paulo and the Federal District, the rates are around 34%, below the national average (which is positive, considering that less water is lost).
Rio de Janeiro, for its part, is above the Brazilian average for water loss, with a record of 46%, that is, just under half of the drinking water produced by the supply company disappears (in addition to leaks, water connections are included illegal, for example).
According to the authors of the research, it is important to observe these losses because, if they are partially corrected, it would be possible to make more water available without exploring new sources. In addition, it is worth noting that some level of water loss is inevitable, according to the report. However, there is a minimum standard to which, in general, entities are able to reach, such as values ​​below 25% of waste, considered to be of excellence.
And some large Brazilian cities achieve this, the authors point out, such as Petrópolis (RJ), Campinas (SP), Limeira (SP), São José do Rio Preto (SP) and Goiânia (GO), to name a few.
According to the national basic sanitation plan, by 2033, the loss in distribution should reach, considering the country as a whole, 31%.
And it’s always worth remembering: water is a finite resource.
water crisis
Reducing losses, of course, is a way of positively impacting or even helping to avoid moments of scarcity, such as the great drought that a considerable part of the country has recently experienced.
In addition to crop failures, the impact of food prices and the national economy as a whole, several cities have had limitations on the use of water at home.
The city of São Paulo, specifically, despite the very low levels registered in the Cantareira System, did not, in fact, enter into a rationing scheme.
Curitiba and other cities, including the state of São Paulo, had to ration. At the end of last year, Paraná announced that, due to the constant lack of water in the state, supply companies could make rations.
It didn’t stop there. The lack of rain to fill reservoirs led, in 2021, to critical moments with the possibility of energy rationing across the country.
Brazil in relation to the world
Compared to other countries, including neighboring countries, Brazil does not appear to be well placed in terms of water use efficiency — this, however, is a difficult comparison, due to possible methodological differences between nations and data from different periods for each of the countries. countries.
In any case, according to the report, when comparing the indicators of losses in Brazil with international standards, “it is observed that the supply system still has a great distance from the technological frontier in terms of efficiency”.
The comparison between countries is possible through other indices, in addition to the one referring to distribution losses. For example, the authors of the report used the total revenue loss ratio (that is, the ratio of the percentage of water that is in the system to the share of liquid that was not paid for) to put the Brazilian situation side by side with that of our neighbors: we are behind Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Panama and Peru in this index.
In another index — of revenue losses, (it’s similar to the previous one, but without something called “volume of service”) — Brazil has a loss rate of 37%. The average in developed countries is 15%; in developing countries is 35%, according to the report, which points out that these, however, are outdated.
“What makes the internal situation [do Brasil] even more serious, when one considers that the passage of time is usually accompanied by improvement in the sector, arising mainly from technological advances and investments”, says the document.
How the search was done
The researchers used the SNIS (National Information System on
Sanitation). It should be noted that this base is built by voluntary responses from sanitation operators in the country, which can lead to a bias in the data obtained. In any case, with the information available, the authors of the study observed indicators of losses in billing, losses in distribution and volumetric losses.
In addition to Trata Brasil, the study had the participation of Asfamas (Brazilian Association of Sanitation Material Manufacturers), the NGO Water.org and was prepared by GO Associados.
