Agência FAPESP
Agência FAPESP is a news agency that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Emerging pollutants are aggravating water crisis in developing countries, dossier says
By José Tadeu Arantes | Agência FAPESP – As the population grows and urbanization and agro-industrial activity increase, the demand for freshwater is expected to rise by 55% by 2050. Experts project that this increase in demand will strongly impact a scenario already characterized by scarce and unequally distributed water resources, the privatization of an […]
Microalgae remove antibiotic residues from wastewater, reducing environmental contamination
By Thais Szegö | Agência FAPESP – Microalgae of the species Monoraphidium contortum have the ability to remove antibiotic residues from water, especially sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim. This reduces the risk of environmental contamination, avoiding serious consequences for the ecosystem and human health. This was the conclusion of a study conducted in partnership by Brazilian researchers […]
Aquatic sediment layers reveal 100 years of metal pollution in São Paulo, Brazil
The history of metal pollution in the city of São Paulo, the largest metropolis in Brazil and the Southern Hemisphere, can be read in the layers of sediment accumulated over the last century. Using paleolimnology—a method that allows the reconstruction of past environmental changes based on sedimentary evidence—researchers reconstructed a century of metal pollution in the capital […]
Overexploitation of groundwater is compromising river flows in Brazil
By José Tadeu Arantes | Agência FAPESP – More than half of Brazil’s rivers are at risk of reduced flow due to water seeping into underground aquifers. This is the result of an analysis of 17,972 wells throughout the country. Of these, 55.4% had water levels below the surface of the nearest rivers. This difference […]
El Niño exacerbates effects of drought on Amazon groundwater and increases fire risk, study finds
Article by Luciana Constantino, Agência FAPESP
Low-cost method removes micro-and nanoplastics from water
Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have developed a novel nanotechnology-based solution for the removal of micro- and nanoplastics from water. Their research is published in the journal Micron. Tiny plastic particles are ubiquitous in the world today and may currently be one of the most important environmental problems, after the climate emergency and […]
Internet of things platform helps producers plan water use
By Lucia Reggiani | FAPESP Innovative R&D
Drought in the Brazil’s Cerrado is the worst for at least seven centuries, study shows
A study conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil and reported in an article published in Nature Communications shows that the Cerrado, Brazil's savanna biome, is experiencing the worst drought for at least 700 years. Here's why. The effects of global warming have been particularly intense in the central region […]
Experiment leads to material modified for use in solar-driven water splitting to produce hydrogen
Research conducted in Brazil at the Center for Development of Functional Materials (CDMF) and the Center for Innovation in New Energies (CINE) has developed a novel approach to the plasma treatment of antimony tri-selenide (Sb2Se3) films that makes their surface hydrophilic, i.e. attracted to water molecules and easily dissolved by water, instead of hydrophobic (repelled […]