Water

Water Supply in Brazil

• 84% of Brazilians have access to potable water ¹;

• ll 35 million Brazilians still do not have access to potable water

• In 2016, 1 in 7 Brazilian women did not have access to potable water. 1 in 6 men did not have access to potable water.

• 14,3% of children and teenagers do not have access to potable water³.

• 6,8% of children and teenagers do not have water supply systems inside the houses³.

• Only 29 cities among the 100 largest Brazilian cities have 100% of their population with access to potable water6.

• Almost all cities supplied water systems to their population since 2008 (93,4%) in Brazil. In 2017, this percentage was 94,9%.

Drinking water in Brazil

• To distribute drinking water to all Brazilians, the water networks face water loss, which, on the national average, reach 40,1%¹.

• The water loss in Brazil is the same as draining out 7,500 Olympic swimming pools of potable water every day²;

• The amount of water loss would be enough to supply potable water to more than 63 million Brazilians in one year, equivalent to 30% of the Brazilian population in 2019².

By region in Brazil

• In the North, 58,9% of the population have access to potable water¹;

• Water supply reaches 74,9% of the population in the Northeast¹;

• The Southeast region supplies 91,3% of the population with potable water¹;

• In the South, 91% of the population have access to potable water¹;

• The Midwest supplies potable water to 90,9% of their population ¹.

By region in Brazil

• North = 51,2% of water loss ¹.

•  Northeast = 46,3% of water loss¹.

• Southeast = 38,1% of water loss¹.

•  South = 36,7% of water loss¹.

•  Midwest = 34,2% of water loss

Groundwater

• The total amount of pumping water from the wells is 17.580 Mm³/year,  sufficient to supply water for the Brazilian population in 1 year; 

• 18% of groundwater is used for urban public supply;

• The costs involved in drilling and installing water tube wells are more than R$75 billion, equivalent to 6,5 years of investments in Brazil in water and sewage;

• There are more than 2,5 million water tube wells in Brazil;

• 88% of water tube wells are illicit;

• Groundwater is the main source for 5.570 Brazilian municipalities;

• In Brazil,  4.329 Mm³ of sewage per year is dumped into subsoil;

• About 6.000 areas of aquifers and groundwater are contaminated in the state of São Paulo5.

Source¹: National Sanitation Information System- SNIS 2020
Source²: Water Loss in Brazil 2021 – SNIS 2019
Source³: Child Poverty 2018 - UNICEF
Source⁴: Sanitation and the life of Brazilian women 2018  – Instituto Trata Brasil
Source⁵: Groundwater and basic sanitation 2019 – Instituto Trata Brasil
Source⁶: Basic Sanitation Ranking  2022– Instituto Trata Brasil
Source⁷: IBGE 2017