The project tries to identify the origins of toxic substances in the country’s treated water by cross-referencing information on water contamination with data on polluting sources. The investigation aims to promote social control and pressure public authorities to take action against those responsible for contaminating drinking water. Detections above the Maximum Permitted Volume (VMP) set by the Ministry of Health will be used as the evaluation criterion. Data will be obtained from the Water Quality Surveillance Information System for Human Consumption (Sisagua) and complemented with data from scientific literature on contaminants in different regions of Brazil.

The Repórter Brasil team will investigate conflicts of interest between agro and food industries, scientific production and public policies. The tobacco industry’s well-known strategy to circumvent scientific evidence of its impacts on public health will serve as a framework to analyze nutrition and the undue influence of ultra-processed food industries and other political and economic interest groups on public policies that impact health.

The three-year project is co-funded by the Serrapilheira Institute and the Ibirapitanga Institute, in a partnership aimed at investigating conflicts of interest in science, health and food that impact public policies.