Water usage in Brazil's industrial sector: estimated withdrawal, consumption, and discharge by the 30 largest industries in the country

Resumen

This study evaluated the water intake, consumption, and disposal by the 30 largest industries in Brazil, based on water consumption coefficients developed by the Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento Básico (ANA), technical coefficients developed by the Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI), and considering Brazilian annual production based on coefficients from the literature. The collected data show that, according to the volumes available in the Planilha de Outorgas, licenses were granted for the intake of 741.47 ML and for the disposal of 515.8 ML of water for the period between 2021 and 2023, considering only the companies listed in this study that requested licenses from ANA. According to the data disclosed by the companies, the intake volumes are 465,733.441 ML and the disposal volumes are 136,067.19 ML (considering only the companies that disclosed their consumption). It was not possible to establish a direct correlation between the coefficient estimates based on declared production (CNI) and those related to the number of jobs (ANA). Therefore, estimating water use using technical coefficients may be more effective by accessing data obtained directly from the industry targeted by the study or through government water resource management agencies, and for better water resource management in the country, greater transparency in data disclosure is needed, both by companies and the government.

Keywords: effluent, technical coefficients, water permits, water scarcity.