Brazil Loses 40% of Treated Water, National Study Finds

Overview

• Instituto Trata Brasil’s 2025 study, using 2023 Sinisa data, reports nationwide distribution losses of 40.31%, totaling 5.8 billion cubic meters.
• The lost volume equals roughly 6,346 Olympic-size pools per day and could supply about 50 million people for a year if recovered.
• Regional losses are highest in the North at about 49.78% and in the Northeast at about 46.25%, far above the federal excellence benchmark.
• Among states, Alagoas (≈69.86%), Roraima (≈62.51%) and Acre (≈62.25%) post the worst results, while Amapá records 53.7% losses and a rare negative water-billing index.
• Macapá loses 53.5% of distributed water and ranks 91st among the 100 largest municipalities, as only 13 of those cities meet the 2034 target of losses at or below 25%.