In 2020, approximately 4.1 million cubic hectometers (hm³) of water, corresponding to 4.1 trillion cubic meters, were removed from the environment in Brazil by economic activities and by families for their own use and distribution. Each cubic hectometer equals 1 million cubic meters. Of this volume, the economic activity electricity and gas was the one that most contributed to the total volume of withdrawals. The explanation is the large amount of water turbined by hydroelectric plants and their majority participation in Brazilian electricity generation. In the same year, hydropower’s participation in withdrawal reached 85.1%. However, although the volume of water captured by the activity is mostly used, there is also a return in the same quantity and quality, which is called non-consumptive use. The total withdrawal of water includes that which occurs for self-service, as well as capture for distribution purposes. The data were released this Friday (2) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in the third edition of the survey Environmental Economic Water Accounts: Brazil – 2018 to 2020, carried out in partnership with the National Water and Sanitation Agency. Basic (ANA). According to the researcher responsible for the survey at the IBGE, economist Michel Lapip, as the Brazilian energy matrix is based mainly on hydropower, the volumes of water needed to generate electricity are enormous. For the operation of the turbines, the water leaves the dams or the riverbed and, after generating energy, returns to the reservoirs. “This water that passes through the turbines is considered withdrawn water no matter how much it is returned, which is considered non-advisory use. The water withdrawn is returned to the environment in the same amount, but it is still a withdrawal”, he explained in an interview with Agência Brasil. Still in 2020, in the sewage and related activities, the withdrawal represented 0.9% of the total. The volume is equivalent to the collection of rainwater drained by the rainwater networks, which, according to the IBGE, was recorded with equal volume both in withdrawal and return to the environment. The survey indicated that families were the ones that most used distribution water (59.4%) and sewage services (59.8%). In the year, the per capita use of water by families was 117.5 liters per day (liters/inhabitant/day). The total captured only in the removal of surface water and groundwater by economic activities for consumptive use reached 71.2 thousand hm³. In this case, the activity with the greatest participation in withdrawal was agriculture, livestock, forest production, fishing and aquaculture (58.2%). “Unlike electricity and gas, this sector consumes water and does not return all of it to the environment. It is also the sector that consumes the most among economic activities. This is a recurring characteristic”, said the economist. Next came the activities of capturing, treating and distributing water (27.9%) and manufacturing and construction industries (8.4%).According to the ANA concept, consumptive use is what takes water from the source allocation to areas such as irrigation, use in industry and human consumption. Addition With 56.2%, rainwater was the main form of addition to Brazil’s total water stock in 2020, which reached 24.9 million cubic hectometers. On the other hand, the reduction in the water stock in the same year was 25.9 hm³. The output of water (46.8%), which can be to the sea, to other countries or to other resources in the territory, was the largest share in the total. The North Region had 87.1% of participation in the entry of water to the country’s stock and was the one that most contributed to the total. “The North, within the Amazon, has almost all of Brazil’s water reserves” – the region has the highest input contribution, but the lowest withdrawal. By regions, the highest use per capita (144.3 liters) was in the Southeast, while the lowest use was in the North, with 78.7 liters per inhabitant/day. “Also considering families, the participation of the volume of sewage collected by the sanitary sewage system in relation to the volume of water used is greater, in 2020, in the Southeast Region, with approximately 71%”. revealed the research, highlighting that in the North Region, “only 16% of the water used by families, approximately, returned to the environment through the collection network”. The researcher informed that it is not possible to make a comparison with the previous edition, because there were methodological changes, as the ANA improved the model of information regarding stocks. “The methodology has changed and the degree of accuracy of the estimates is greater. Therefore, we did not make the comparison”. The climatic movements of drought and abundance of rain can influence water stocks and withdrawals, in addition to the performance of activities. “If it rains too much, it ruins agriculture and the opposite happens when there is a shortage of rain. The hydropower sector will generate less and trigger more thermoelectric plants”, he commented. Economic data The survey showed that also in 2020, every R$ 1.00 generated by the country’s economy consumed 6.2 liters of water. He also indicated that the gross added value (VAB) of the water and sewage economic activity totaled R$ 48.2 billion and that the value of the production of distribution water and sewage services was R$ 74.5 billion. In this total, the participation of distribution water reached 65.7%. The average cost of water used in agriculture, livestock, forest production, fishing and aquaculture reached R$ 0.11/m³, “taking into account the public irrigation perimeters (PPI)”, completed the IBGE. Research According to the IBGE, the Water Environmental Economic Accounts: Brazil present physical and monetary indicators on the supply and demand of water in the country with results for the five major regions: North, Northeast, Southeast, South and Midwest – and Brazil.
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©