The financial hub of one of the world’s biggest economies is experiencing a water crisis so bad that experts say it could affect investors globally.

São Paulo, Brazil, is in the grips of the city’s worst drought in the last half-century. The city’s main water supply—called the Cantareira system—is running on emergency reserves. Normally this time of year, the city’s main supply would hold more than 155 billion gallons of water. But that water is all gone, and the government has been forced to tap into emergency reserves.

“São Paulo’s current drought emergency is both unprecedented and unpredicted,” said World Bank Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist Juliana Garrido.

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Photo courtesy of Martha Silvak via Flickr Creative Commons.