Brazil´s drought. Photo: Prensa Latina.

About 60.9 million people can be without water in Brazil in case of a prolonged period without rain, according to a government study released on Monday by Rede Brasil Atual website.

Of that figure, about 20.5 million people are living in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, which suffered a serious water supply crisis in 2014 and 2015.

The number of Sao Paulo people under risk is equivalent to almost a half of the population of the state. Another 11.8 million are in Rio de Janeiro.

This risk of water shortage affects five million people in the state of Pernambuco, 4.5 million in Minas Gerais, 3.1 million in Bahia and 1.8 million in Paraiba.

According to the National Water Agency (ANA), a significant increase of the demand persists in places where the sources no longer offer sufficient water for full attention.

‘Brazil has 12 percent of the world’s fresh water, but it is basically in the northern region, unlike the electric sector. People do not have supply lines to do the distribution,’ ANA director Marcelo Cruz explained.