Lack of clean water leaves Brazil indigenous reserve exposed to coronavirus

In Brazil’s most populous indigenous reserve, the Guarani Kaiowa people live in fear of catching the novel coronavirus, knowing they have no access to one of the most effective weapons against spreading the infection: running water. No family in the Dourados Indigenous Reserve has a constant source of water, say community members, as their supply is interrupted several times a day or stops completely for days. That makes it impossible for them to regularly wash their hands in an effort to prevent contagion if the virus arrives.

Indigenous health experts say the lack of clean water in the Dourados reserve makes the community – which already suffers from high rates of tuberculosis and malnutrition – especially vulnerable to illness. Indianara Machado Ramires Guarani Kaiowa, 29, an indigenous nurse and activist who coordinates a health team in Dourados, said the lack of clean, running water has historically been one of the biggest obstacles to keeping the community healthy.

Without a reliable water supply, residents of the Dourados reserve – who are mainly either subsistence farmers or factory workers in the city – get their water from artesian wells, as well as rivers, springs and even standing water. Eliseu Lopes Guarani Kaiowa, head of Aty Guasu, an indigenous assembly in the region, said people usually have to walk for hours to get water. And the water they collect is often contaminated by the pesticides used in surrounding soy plantations, leading to further health problems, he added.

Source: Trust