Drought cistern
Drought in Northeastern Brazil. Sheets and towels hanging on the fence dry under the region's scorching heat. Traveling in countryside, one will see a cistern which stores rainwater caught from rooftop besides almost every modest house. It basically fulfills the water drinking, cooking and families demands in the months of water shortage, preventing the need for long walks for water. However, in a severe situation like that, they are frequently supplied with water provided by tanker trucks ( carros-pipas ), a “generosity” of local politicians. A great idea like the cisterns, a decentralized water supply infrastructure requiring simple and inexpensive technology, serving the purposes of the so-called drought industry. Paternalism has always been a dominant cultural trait in the region.