Photos from the Field

On By wjepsonIn Brazil, research, water security

Here are a few photos from my research trip to Ceará.  My time there quickly passed by as my colleagues scheduled many activities and meetings almost every day of the trip — including unsuccessful visits to register my visa! Leave that for October.  I forgot about the Brazilian bureaucracy — Brazil is not for beginners, but regardless, I am so happy to be back working there. 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Typical reused container for water transport and storage.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
….And more containers (this was used for lubricants).
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Striking gender division of labor: Women would collect water in the early morning while men waited two hours during the afternoon to fill their containers. In another town, the lines were so long people would hire the local “papudhino” (drunk) to wait in line for them.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
In some places, others would bring between 10 and 30 containers to fill, and then resell at the periphery of the urban area.  This was not allowed officially, but it has lead to implied violence if someone were to stop it. 
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
One small town in the northern region of Ceará. Rural residents would come to the town for well water (“agua doce”)
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Public taps for well water that was not processed by desalination.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
County-owned water tanker (“carro-pipa”) filling tank directly from the bare-bones water processing plant. He is on his eight trip to the rural areas to fill cisterns with water. In this town, no “carro-pipa” served the urban residents, only rural.