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Brazil needs to build more dams: gov't official

Xinhua, February 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Brazil needs to resume dams building, Vicente Andreu, president of the National Waters Agency (ANA), which regulates water distribution and other related matters, said on Tuesday.

According to Andreu, Brazil stopped building dams for several reasons, including 'absolutely environmental reasons', but must resume in order to tackle the current water crisis.

Not building more reservoirs, Andreu said, puts more stress on the existing dams and reduces crisis management capacity.

Water shortage has affected the northeastern region recently, where many rivers are intermittent, and the southeastern region is also afflicted by a severe drought now, with the three most populated states in the country facing the possibility of water rationing.

The water level in many reservoirs is much below normal levels, and some of them have reached dead storage level since last year.

As Brazil relies mostly on hydroelectric power for its energy, the water crisis also poses a problem for the energy sector. But the government has denied the need for energy rationing, as the country had to practice in 2001. Endi