• Brazil surface water area has shrunk 16% over the past 30 years
• Water shortages are driving high power costs and low crop yields
• Critics blame the weakening of Brazil's environmental agencies

Recurring drought, regular power outages and a devastated farming industry - these are the problems scientists say Brazil could face as research suggests the rainforest-rich country is drying out at an alarming rate.

Several studies in recent months have pointed to deforestation, a warming climate and weak governance as the main drivers of drier conditions in Brazil's midwest and southeast, leaving farms parched and hydro-power plants struggling to meet electricity demand.

According to research released in August by deforestation mapping initiative MapBiomas, Brazil has lost nearly 16% of its surface water over the past three decades.

Using historical satellite images, researchers identified parts of the country that have changed from water areas to soil or vegetation and vice versa, said Carlos Souza Jr., a geologist at Imazon (the Amazon Institute of Man and Environment).

"I expected some (images) would show impacts on the environment, but I didn't think they would be this clear and evident," said Souza, whose 2018 research on aquatic ecosystems in the Amazon rainforest provided data for the MapBiomas study.

"This means we will have less water for basic activities, such as industrial needs, energy production, (supplying) urban centers and traditional communities, and more," he said.

The National Electric System Operator has said Brazil, which holds 12% of the planet's freshwater reserves, is experiencing its worst drought in more than 90 years.

With reservoir water levels dropping fast, especially in the southeast where big cities Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are located, the nation's electricity supplier said in August it would add a "water scarcity flag" to the power tariff system.

National electricity rates are determined by colored flags representing water levels at hydropower plants.

Green means they are running at sufficient capacity, while yellow, red and the new "scarcity" flag signal low or critical levels, triggering a price rise to cover the costs of activating thermal energy plants and other measures to avoid blackouts.

Climate change is already cutting into the volume and variety of crops Brazil's farmers can grow, according to a September report by Planet Tracker, a nonprofit financial think-tank.

Its researchers said increasingly erratic weather is hitting the double-cropping system Brazil relies on to maintain its status as a major soy and corn exporter.

Double-cropping is when farmers use the same land twice in one year - and to do that successfully, they need stable rainfall patterns to know what to plant and when.

The report predicted that by 2050, the net loss to Brazil's export revenue could be $701 million-$2.1 billion per year.

Lack of governance and environmental oversight are exacerbating Brazil's water troubles, said Angelo Lima, executive secretary of the Water Governance Observatory.

Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has been weakening the environment ministry's authority over forestry and water agency services, while promoting development of the Amazon.