Water a precious commodity in Brazilian oil town

By Mauricio Savarese

MACAE, Brazil (Reuters) - Thin black water hoses snake across the ground all over Nova Holanda, a workers' neighborhood on the edge of the Brazilian boom town of Macae.

Oil and gas may have brought riches to the former fishing village but water is almost as precious.

Over the years, thousands of job seekers have flocked to the area, building homes wherever there's a patch of ground.

But Nova Holanda has only one standpipe linked to the city's main system -- forcing people to install a makeshift system of their own with the hoses.

The rough conditions make Nova Holanda a hostile, dirty and violent place to many people but profitable for others, like taxi driver and entrepreneur Edvar Santos, 58.

"Son, in Nova Holanda you've got just two options. Either you pay people to take that water for you or you have a nice pump to do it yourself," he said.

Santos said he owns two houses, a small building and a water tank capable of storing 35,000 liters a week.

He and many other people installed the hoses so they can sell water from the city system at a price of about 10 reais ($6) for 100 liters (26 gallons). They can also arrange for water pumps -- at a cost of about 150 reais ($90).