People cool off in the shallow waters of Arpoador beach amid a heat wave, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian climatologist Núbia Beray Armond for years had been sounding the alarm about Rio de Janeiro's need for an extreme heat plan including water distribution. Interest was tepid until a disastrous Taylor Swift concert — and now her phone won't stop ringing.
Others were galvanized to enshrine water access into law, a sign Brazilian authorities have begun considering it a public health issue in an ever-hotter world. Brazil's summer has been particularly oppressive. Nine heat waves swept across the country in 2023, and three since January, according to the government's meteorology institute.
During heat waves, those unable to afford power bills from round-the-clock air conditioning often cool down with multiple showers a day, which deplete a shared tank or run up water bills. Water shortages for poor, non-white populations is a worldwide phenomenon growing increasingly severe as global temperatures rise.
“I had to. I didn’t know how to live with the lack of water,” said Monteiro, who attended the conference. Aware that the runoff from landfill had caused water pollution, she said that to be safe she uses the well water only for cooking and washing.