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Businesses Across São Paulo Do Not Have a Contingency Plan for Water Shortage

11/21/2014 - 08h44

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EDUARDO GERAQUE
FROM SÃO PAULO

According to a study conducted in October and November, 95% of companies, industries, hospitals and hotels in São Paulo have no contingency plan to deal with the water shortage.

The poll was done by CPDEC (Research, Development and Continuing Education Centre) in association with Neit (Center for Industrial Economics and Technology), from Unicamp university.

The poll revealed the only solution proposed by some contingency plans is to call a water tank truck.

The study collected information from 137 organizations across São Paulo State, in Brazil. 2,000 questionnaires were distributed. The pool investigated 55 industries, 49 companies, 17 hospitals and 16 hotels.

Almost a third relies entirely on public supply systems.

100% of hospitals have no alternative source of water.

Rodnei Domingues (CPDEC) believes the results show the organizations that depend on supply companies will have their operations affected by a possible water shortage.

The survey also pointed that only 12.4% of the organizations investigated have some sort of recycled water system.

In the industry sector, which includes companies that use water in their production lines, 23.6% are able to reuse it.

But these initiatives account for just 8.5% of the total water used. In companies that do not use water in their production line, the volume of water recycled is only 1.2%.

None of the 17 hospitals that responded to the questionnaire have a recycled water system.

The study "Usage and Water Consumption in São Paulo State" also shows how the crisis is affecting alternative sources of water.

28.2% of the industries have said to use underground water capture through artesian wells.

However, 14.7% cannot use them anymore because the wells have dried up.

According to the study's authors, all regions of São Paulo State were covered. They cannot reveal the names of the private organisations investigated due to a secrecy clause.

The sample includes small hotels, with 13 employees, and industries with 10,500 employees.

Translated by JULIANA CALDERARI

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