Brazil loses 36.7 pct of treated water due to leaks, wastage and theft

Around 40 percent of all treated water in Brazil is lost due to waste and leaks in the pipes, theft and measurement errors, according to a new report published Monday.

The data, prepared by the National System on Information About Sanitation (SNIS) and published by the G1 news portal, tracked water consumption of treated water from 2011 to 2015.

In 2011, the rate of lost water stood at 38.8 percent, before trending down to 36.7 percent in 2015.

"The numbers showed that not even capital cities are succeeding in rapidly improving their role to measure water," stated Edison Carlos, president of the Trata Brasil institute, dedicated to water treatment.

"If these cities do not succeed, imagine smaller municipalities, with worse infrastructure," Carlos said.

The report also showed that trash collection had improved greatly before 2011 and 2015. However, national coverage remains at 50.3 percent of the population, which means that over 100 million people use alternative methods to dispose of their rubbish, whether in ditches, sewers or even directly in rivers.

In addition, the SNIS report showed that Brazilian cities are struggling to deal with sewage treatment. Of the 100 biggest cities, only 21 percent treat over 80 percent of their sewage, while another 21 percent treat less than 20 percent. Enditem