Science

Brazil's water crisis is so bad that people are getting hepatitis from tap water

Ariel Schwartz

2015-09-02T13:11:19Z

The river where Carapicuíba residents get their water. Ariel Schwartz/Tech Insider

São Paulo, Brazil is one of the world's largest megacities. It's also dealing with a crippling drought that is so far proving to be inconvenient for the wealthy and downright disastrous for the poor. There is no end in sight.

If the next rainy season doesn't bring relief, it's not unthinkable that the city could begin teetering towards collapse.

In the impoverished outskirts of São Paulo, people are going days at a time without water. Much of the water that's left is so polluted that residents are becoming seriously ill.

This is how bad it's gotten: While in Carapicuíba, a city just outside São Paulo, I visited a family that contracted hepatitis — most likely from water provided by Sabesp, the local water utility. Their story is below.

Rosangela is 23 years old and lives in a cramped home in Carapicuíba with 11 other family members. At the beginning of the year, she began to notice an acrid smell in her tap water, which was also turning white.

By May, Rosangela knew something was wrong. She had lost her appetite, had a constant stomachache, and often felt like she needed to vomit. "Since I wasn't eating anything, there wasn't anything to throw up, though," she says.

Soon, other family members (including her son and brother) began getting sick. Rosangela went to the doctor, who informed her that she had hepatitis — and that because so many people in close quarters got sick at the same time, it was almost certainly due to their tap water.

It wasn't just Rosangela's family, either. Other members of the community, including residents on nearby streets, also contracted hepatitis from the water.

"It would be one after the other," says Gislena, Rosangela's mother-in-law. "One person would get well, and then the other would get sick."

Sabesp visited the family twice to inspect their water source at a local water activist's urging.

At first, Sabesp said the water quality was fine. After the second visit, they said nothing. In general, Sabesp has tried to shield as much information about the water crisis from the public as possible.

Rosangela and her family don't have enough money to buy bottled water, so they are still drinking the same water that most likely gave them hepatitis. Meanwhile, Rosangela lost her job at a local fast food chain, Ragazzo's, because she was so ill. "Sabesp knew the water was bad, but they never told people," she says.

As for why the water is so dangerous to drink —this photo of the river in Carapicuíba that provides water to local residents should explain it all. The water treatment system for the river is overstressed. That problem, combined with a lack of rainwater to dilute the trash and sewage, has led to a situation where E.coli levels in tap water delivered from the river are much higher than normal. It's not surprising that people are getting sick as a result.

Ariel Schwartz reported from Brazil as a fellow with the International Reporting Project (IRP).

Brazil