Convivência com o Semiárido – Cisternas
One of the strongest images built about Brazilian semi-arid is the drought. Indeed, the water shortage shows itself as a concrete reality and a big bottleneck of social development in that space: there is lack of water to plant, to feed animals, to cook and even to drink. In times of drought, frequently the population becomes dependent on government policies and the water trucks sent or waters unfit for human consumption found nearby.
There are people who don’t agree with this idea. Several civil society organizations have been working in an effort to show that it is possible to coexist with semi-arid with life quality and producing. There are innumerable successful experiences of rain water catchment and storage, specially using cisterns, followed by a social mobilization process for the construction of technology and educative training to use that resource.