Today I received an e-mail from a member of my church.
"Also, please pray that the Lord brings rain very soon to São Paulo. In the interior of the sate – we have not had rain for months, the reservoirs are completely dry and there are entire neighborhoods in my region which have not received city water for 45-60 days. The situation is on the brink of a calamity.- Joe Matthews
Our city and state is in a severe drought. There are somewhere between 16-20 million people living in my city alone. The water is down to 4% and there is talk it will be gone by November. At this point I have not been affected. The reason we still have water may be due to the huge tank on our roof that collected water in the past. Some friends in other parts of the city have had their water shut off each day from 10 PM-8 AM for a couple of months. Another teacher from PACA went to Starbucks a few weeks ago and was unable to get coffee, tea, or any drink because they had no water. I was with a friend last weekend and we ordered a hamburg at an outdoor cafe. Later we went to use the restroom before leaving and found out that they also had no water to flush the toilets or wash our hands with. How can they run a restaurant with no water? How do they wash dishes, food, hands etc.?
The weather here has been crazy with very hot temperatures during the day and once the sun sets it is cold within an hour or two. Today the temperature went from 100 down into the high 60's within an hour or two. It reminds me a little of what the weather must be like in a desert. Not only does rain/moisture help regulate temperatures, but it also helps to control the pollution. The air quality is so bad here, and many children (and adults) have respiratory problems causing them to suffer a lot.
There is a reservoir near PACA that supplies much of the water for the city. It is amazing how it has gone down. There are a couple of "floating docks" I used to walk on, and now they are all on land. Even beyond the docks there is dry land for quite a distance before reaching the water.
Below are a couple of links that describes a bit of what is going on. http://www.citiesjournal.com/sao-paulo-brazil-faces-water-shortage/
These images were taken 6 months apart: http://i.imgur.com/LFpcSOB.jpg?1
