Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Storing Precious Water Underground

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 14 2004 (IPS) - Underground depositories could be a new solution for the population in Brazil's semiarid northeast, where frequent droughts have caused human tragedy and the migration of millions of people to the country's southern regions. Storing water below ground serves to prevent evaporation and keeps the ground moist for several months, thus also reducing crop losses to drought.

There are already around a thousand such deposits in northeast, and in the next three years the governmental Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research and numerous non-governmental organizations will be studying different aspects of this technique, to define best practices and demonstrate its benefits. Then they will disseminate the idea.

Also in the Brazilian northeast, there is mass production of tanks to collect rainwater for household use, ensuring rural families water to drink.