Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's Cia. de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo, Latin America's biggest water utility, said it would ration water to five cities, affecting 440,000 people in Sao Paulo, the country's most populous and richest state.

A drought has forced the state to ration water starting Oct. 15 in the cities of Embu, Embu-Guacu, Itapecirica da Serra, Vargem Grande and Cotia, said Mauro Arce, Sao Paulo energy, water and sewerage secretary, at a press conference in Sao Paulo. Customers in the affected areas will alternate between 36-hour periods with water and 36-hour periods without it.

``We are facing a critical situation,'' Arce said.

The government, which controls Sabesp, as the water company is known, said rainfall over some reservoirs has been 30 percent below the average from 1982 through 2001. The water level at the government's Cotia reservoir is at 8 percent of capacity while the reservoirs of Cantareira, which supply most of the city of Sao Paulo's water, are at 8.8 percent of capacity, he said.

The government also plans to start a campaign in the metropolitan area of the city of Sao Paulo for more economical use of water, a move to prevent expansion of the area affected by rationing, Arce said. About 18 million people, or 67 percent of Sabesp's customers, live in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo.

Arce said the end of the rationing will depend on the level of rains in the next couple of months, as Brazil enters the rainier summer season.

``I hope the rationing will end in November,'' Arce said. ``We have to wait and see how much rain we get.''

Last Updated: October 8, 2003 13:44 EDT