Careful Water Use Feeds Rain-Starved Families

By Rick D'Elia

The survival of residents of northeast Brazil's vast semiarid region, which includes the western three-fourths of the large state of Bahia, depends on their success in managing a highly erratic water supply.

"When we knew it was time for the rain, we would plant our crops. Sometimes we couldn't harvest because there wasn't enough rain—we would lose the crop," Josefa Magalhaes de Moura explains while the family shares lunch with guests.

For such times, they also had to adapt to be sure there was enough to survive.

"We had to prepare for the dry times by storing food," she says, pointing to the pantry where two wax-sealed, zinc-coated steel silos stand 6 feet tall, storing up to a year's supply of manioc flour and dried beans.

Up until two years ago, Josefa and her husband José Dos Reis Boaventura da Silva, along with their son and daughter-in-law, had to travel 11 miles to collect about 26 gallons of water from a lake shared by cattle. Two or three times a week they would load plastic water cans on the back of a donkey and on their heads.

"If we were careful it would last three days," José says.

For many years, Movimiento da Orginizaçao Comunitaria (Movement for Community Organization or MOC) has worked to change this situation by bringing together advocates for rural communities in the semiarid region of northeast Brazil. Among the solutions, MOC has organized the construction of water harvesting and storage systems.

To date, MOC, with the help of Catholic Relief Services and others, has constructed 40,000 systems. In recent years, the Brazilian government took notice of the program and initiated its own One Million Cisterns program in the region. They have built another 300,000 systems to date.

CRS has partnered with MOC to fund training in the construction of the water systems and provide some of the necessary equipment. Funding has also provided income for many of the builders.

'This Has Changed Our Lives'

Through the partnership, CRS and MOC have educated farmers in better cultivating techniques, taking advantage of the improved water supplies. Farmers have learned to grow additional crops, resulting in larger, higher-quality harvests that not only provide a more varied nutritional diet, but allow them to earn additional income.

The techniques also prevent the deterioration of soil caused by overfarming of the same crop, a significant problem for a population who traditionally plant only manioc, corn and beans.

Two years after joining this program, Josefa and José's farm is a patchwork of green irrigated beds of lettuce, onions, cilantro, tomatoes and bananas, along with the manioc and beans. In between, the putty-colored paths are a contrast with the rich-black, naturally fertile earth in which their crops thrive.

Rain gutters collect water from the roof of the family home, depositing it in cylindrical concrete cisterns. Meanwhile, a 30-foot-square concrete slab forms a water collection pan to fill another cistern among their crops.

The family of four happily attends to their crops, pulling weeds and picking ripe produce, chatting about the day, about life, politics, the weather and the crops.

They educate visitors sent by MOC to learn about the systems. They even earn a few more reais by feeding those visitors using their own organic produce.

"This has changed our lives. Water has brought the production of food; we have fruit and vegetables now. The family income has grown as we sell produce in the market, making [an extra 17 to 28 dollars] per week," explains José.

"We are very happy because many things, especially our health, became better because we have water. We can produce fruits and vegetables without chemicals and we don't have to go far for water. We have good-quality water now."

Rick D'Elia is an Arizona-based photographer and writer. He has documented CRS projects in Cambodia, Rwanda and Uganda. On his most recent trip he visited CRS programs in Brazil and Nicaragua.