Almost a year ago, a severe water shortage drove a neighborhood near Sao Paulo to burn tires in protest. The governor of Sao Paulo state, dominated by Brazil's biggest city, had to send in 20 trucks of potable water to cool the situation. But the crisis hasn't ended. In February of this year, the Cantareira, one of six reservoir systems that supply the city of 21 million people, was down to just 6 percent of its 1.3 billion-cubic-meter capacity. Even after seasonal rains, the level is still precariously low. The city's utility, Sabesp, has about five months' worth of water for its clients. "We burned through our reserves," says Samuel Barreto, a specialist for water security at the Nature Conservancy of Brazil. "We're still trying to get out of the eye of the hurricane."
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