Water use by sector: irrigation takes half and industry 10%

Irrigated agriculture is by far the sector that uses the most water in Brazil. In 2024, the country withdrew 2,098.7 cubic metres per second from rivers, lakes and aquifers for consumptive uses, about 66 trillion litres in the year, and irrigation took 50.3%, according to the 2025 Water Resources Outlook (Conjuntura dos Recursos Hídricos no Brasil) by Brazil’s National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA). City supply took about 22%, and manufacturing about 10%.

In short:

• Irrigation: 1,056.3 m³/s, 50.3% of total withdrawals, with flood-irrigated rice as the largest share.
• Urban supply: about 468 m³/s, 22% of the total, with São Paulo state accounting for 26% of that use.
• Manufacturing: 207.3 m³/s, about 10%, concentrated in food and beverages, pulp and paper, metallurgy, petroleum products and biofuels.
• Livestock, thermal power, mining and rural supply complete the picture.
• By 2040, ANA projects an extra 1.207 trillion litres a year in withdrawals, driven by irrigation.

How much water does each sector use in Brazil?

ANA estimates each sector’s withdrawals in its National Reference Database of Consumptive Water Uses. The 2024 figures:

Sector	Withdrawals in 2024	Share
Irrigated agriculture	1,056.3 m³/s	50.3%
Urban human supply	about 468 m³/s	about 22%
Manufacturing	207.3 m³/s	about 10%
Livestock	174.9 m³/s	about 8%
Thermal power plants	132.4 m³/s	about 6%
Rural human supply	30.8 m³/s	1.5%
Mining	28.6 m³/s	1.4%
Total	2,098.7 m³/s	100%

Three sectors, cities, irrigation and manufacturing, account for about 82% of withdrawals. The distribution varies a lot across the country: Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Bahia add up to more than half of the country’s withdrawals, and the Southeast leads among the regions, with 34.5%.

What is the difference between water withdrawal and water consumption?

Withdrawal is all the water abstracted for a use; consumption is the part that does not return to the rivers. ANA separates three components in each consumptive use: withdrawal, the total water abstracted; consumption, the water withdrawn that does not return directly to water bodies; and return flow, the part that goes back, such as city sewage and factory effluent.

The difference matters. In irrigation, much of the water evaporates or is taken up by plants and does not go back to the river. In urban supply and many industries, a large share returns as sewage or effluent, but it returns with a different quality, which is why treatment weighs as much as quantity. Non-consumptive uses, such as hydropower, navigation and tourism, do not abstract water but depend on it in quantity and quality.

Why does irrigation use so much water?

Because it produces food at scale, and some crops are very water-intensive. In 2022, Brazil had 8.6 million hectares equipped for irrigation, of which 2.9 million were fertigation with reuse water, mainly vinasse in sugarcane fields. Two systems dominate:

• Flood-irrigated rice. It is the largest share of irrigation water use, at about 350 m³/s. The national average is 8,300 m³ per hectare, around 1,050 litres for every kilo of rice. Rio Grande do Sul holds 72.3% of the planted area.
• Centre pivots. In 2022, the country passed 30,000 pivots, with 1.92 million hectares equipped, for soy, maize, beans and cotton, mainly in Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia and São Paulo.

The water hidden in the food a company buys, from coffee to meat, is in virtual water and water footprint.

How much water does industry use?

About 10% of national withdrawals. In 2024, manufacturing withdrew 207.3 m³/s, and mineral extraction, 28.6 m³/s. According to ANA, food and beverages, pulp and paper, metallurgy, petroleum products and biofuels account for about 80% of industrial water demand.

Region	Share of industrial withdrawals
Southeast	45%
Northeast	21%
South	18%
Centre-West	14%
North	2%

In the Northeast, the textile chain and the sugar-energy sector predominate; in the South, agro-industries. In mining, iron ore accounts for 49.8% of the sector’s withdrawals, and Pará and Minas Gerais hold 39% and 38%. Water intensity per unit produced, according to ANA, depends on the process, scale, automation, technology and maturity of the plant’s water management, and that is where a company has room to cut. The step by step to close the water loop is in water reuse in industry.

How much water do cities use?

About 22% of withdrawals, the second largest use. In 2024, urban human supply withdrew about 468 m³/s, heavily concentrated in the most populous states: São Paulo (26%), Rio de Janeiro (11%), Minas Gerais (10%) and Rio Grande do Sul (5%). The Southeast accounts for 49% of that water. From 2000 to 2024, withdrawals for cities grew by 32%.

Offices, shops, hotels, hospitals, schools and condominiums connected to the public network fall within this share, together with homes. And a large part of the treated water is lost before it reaches any of them, as shown in water losses in Brazil.

Where will water demand grow?

In irrigation regions and areas of urban and industrial growth. ANA projects an extra 1.207 trillion litres a year in withdrawals by 2040, with irrigated agriculture standing out. The largest absolute increases are expected in the São Francisco (+137.4 m³/s), Paranaíba (+76.7 m³/s), Tocantins-Araguaia (+65.8 m³/s), Uruguai, Grande, Paranapanema, Paraná, Paraíba do Sul and Doce basins.

More demand in the same basin means more competition for water in dry years. The critical areas of the water balance, where demand exceeds supply, are generally associated with irrigated agriculture hubs. When drought tightens, the law gives priority to human consumption and watering animals, as shown in water crisis and companies: 5 consequences.

What does this mean for your company?

That every cubic metre the company uses competes with the city, the countryside and the industry of the same basin. Three practical consequences:

1. Own abstraction is increasingly regulated. Permits, water use charges and revisions in scarcity. See water use charges in Brazil.
2. Those on the public network share the cities’ water. In the 2014 and 2015 crisis in São Paulo, the utility reduced network pressure and created a contingency tariff for those who exceeded their average.
3. Water goes into the report. Sustainability reports, such as those following the GRI 303 standard, ask for measured water withdrawal and consumption.

The answer starts with measuring your own use and cutting what is waste. T&D’s SEA 360º handles implementation, without building works, with a baseline under the IPMVP protocol, efficiency technology at points of use, electronic leak detection and repairs, and continues with ongoing management, with monthly efficiency and ESG impact reports. The ceiling observed in the full programme is a 70% reduction in consumption. The full picture, from diagnosis to targets, is in water savings in companies.

Frequently asked questions

Which sector uses the most water in Brazil?

Irrigated agriculture. In 2024, it accounted for 50.3% of the water withdrawn in the country, 1,056.3 m³/s, according to ANA. Next come city supply, with about 22%, and manufacturing, with about 10%.

How much water does industry use in Brazil?

In 2024, manufacturing withdrew 207.3 m³/s, about 10% of the country’s total, and mineral extraction 28.6 m³/s. Food and beverages, pulp and paper, metallurgy, petroleum products and biofuels make up about 80% of industrial demand.

What is the difference between water withdrawal and consumption?

Withdrawal is all the water abstracted for a use. Consumption is the part of that water that does not return directly to the rivers, because it evaporates, is incorporated into the product or is taken up by plants. The rest is return flow, such as sewage and effluent.

How much water does it take to produce rice?

For flood-irrigated rice, the national average withdrawal is 8,300 m³ per hectare, about 1,050 litres per kilo of rice, according to ANA. It is the crop that uses the most water in Brazilian irrigation.

How much water do Brazilian cities use?

About 468 m³/s in 2024, 22% of total withdrawals, according to ANA. São Paulo state accounts for 26% of that volume, and the Southeast for 49%.

Sources

• ANA, Conjuntura dos Recursos Hídricos no Brasil 2025, Water uses chapter, in Portuguese: withdrawals by sector in 2024, irrigation, supply, industry, mining, thermal power, projections to 2040 and reuse
• ANA, Conjuntura dos Recursos Hídricos no Brasil 2025, summary report, in Portuguese: total withdrawals, irrigation share and withdrawals by state and region
• T&D SEA 360º