The Amazon Rainforest means more than just accounting for 7% of the planet's surface and holding 10% of the world's biodiversity. It also plays a direct role in controlling the amount of rainfall that reaches our country and even our neighbors. A study conducted by the Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo (USP) indicates that 25% of the rain in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil comes from the Amazon area. How can we use this wealth to our advantage? The Amazon Rainfall Project, from the Sustainable Connections Platform, has promoted, over a year, alternative techniques for accessing potable water.

Despite being surrounded by water, many riverside communities lack potable water for consumption. The project's goal was to teach alternative techniques for accessing potable water in riverside communities, thereby improving quality of life and reducing long-term diseases related to the lack of proper basic sanitation. It was divided into four stages: socio-environmental diagnosis of the communities; laboratory analysis of the water used; environmental education and alternative water access technique training; and the implementation of fixed structures for rainwater collection. The project started in October 2022 and concluded its activities in September this year.

Four communities benefited: Uricuriteua and Anauerá, on Ilha da Trambioca, and São João and São Pedro, on the Ilha das Onças. With the community installations, 43 families benefited from the initiative, with 165 people served by four rainwater collection structures. According to Helenita Anjos, a health agent, the project has helped in promoting community health. “We are learning to filter and clean rainwater, reducing diseases and acquiring knowledge on how to improve our water quality,” she states.

“Besides the collection structures, we offered various other environmental education activities for children and adults, like technical workshops on building filters and using sodium hypochlorite. We conducted a socio-environmental diagnosis with the families, resulting in the creation of a booklet. We aspire for more partnerships to continue the project, as the feedback from the communities was very positive,” says Thuany Batista, coordinator of the Amazon Rainfall Project.

One of the project's actions was the launch of the booklet “Olha a chuva!” (Here comes the rain!) which brings, in a didactic and simple way, sustainable practices and rainwater reuse. “This booklet was made for the communities. We tried to compile some information about the importance of basic sanitation and access to potable water, as well as sustainable and simple ways to implement at home and how to use rainwater,” Thuany explains.

About the Sustainable Connections Platform

The Sustainable Connections Platform is an initiative of the Hydro Sustainability Fund in partnership with the Partners for the Amazon Platform (PPA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Bioversity & CIAT Alliance, implemented by the Sustainable Barcarena Initiative (IBS). Hydro and Albras are the maintainers of the Hydro Sustainability Fund. In 2022, the Sustainable Connections Platform launched 15 new projects. The projects started between October and December 2022 and are in development. In 2023, a new call was made, with seven projects selected. The investment in this new call will be around BRL 600,000.