Institutional and policy analysis of river basin management : the Alto-Tiete river basin, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The authors describe and analyze river basin management in the most intensely urbanized and industrialized region of Brazil. The area covered by the Alto Tiete basin is almost coterminous with the Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo. With a drainage area of 5,985 square kilometers (2.4 percent of the state's territory), the basin encompasses 35 of the 39 municipalities and 99.5 percent of the population of Greater Sao Paulo. Population growth and urban sprawl in Greater Sao Paulo have been rapid and uncontrolled in recent decades. In 2000, 17.8 million people lived in the basin and by 2010 the population is estimated to reach 20 million. This massive human occupation was accompanied by the large-scale construction of water infrastructure, including dams, pumping stations, canals, tunnels, and inter-basin transfers to and from neighboring basins. Today, the Alto-Tiete basin is served by a complex hydraulic and hydrological system. Despite this extensive water infrastructure, the water availability of the region is still very low (201 m3-hab-an) and even lower than the semiarid regions of the Brazilian Northeast. The two key management issues to be addressed in the Alto Tiete basin are water quantity to supply a burgeoning population, and water quality which is deteriorating to a point where water availability for a range of uses is severely affected. Urban flood control and mitigation represents another major challenge in the basin. Although important achievements have been made over the past 15 years, the decentralization process - characterized by the creation of the Alto-Tiete committee and its subcommittees and some financing from the State Water Resources Fund - has yet to reveal measurable physical results such as the improvement of water quality or the rationalization of water use. It is undeniable that the Alto-Tiete committee and its subcommittees have already played an important leadership role around several issues. An extraordinary mobilization around water issues, problems, and management has occurred, even though solving many water-related problems may be beyond the capacity of the committees or even of the water resources management system as a whole. Charging for water remains one of the key issues in making the Alto Tiete Committee more relevant and giving it more say in water investment and management decisions. As long as such decisions remain at the individual agency level (both state and municipal), decisionmaking will remain fragmented and it is unlikely that key policy instruments to curb water demand increases and pollution will be implemented.Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water and Industry,Drought Management,Water Conservation

Institutional and policy analysis of river basin management : the Jaguaribe river basin, Ceara, Brazil

The authors describe and analyze water resources reform and decentralization of river basin management in the state of Ceara, Northeast Brazil, the poorest part of the country. The Jaguaribe river basin is located entirely within the state of Ceara. With a drainage area of 72,560 square kilometers, it covers almost half of the state's territory. The basin has 80 municipalities and more than 2 million people, about half rural and half urban, in primarily small towns, representing about a third of Ceara's population. Precipitation in the basin is highly variable, ranging from 400 mm in the hinterland to 1,200 mm along the coast. Rivers in the basin are ephemeral and only flow during the rainy season. The key water management challenge is to capture the water in reservoirs in rainy years and to manage it such that it will last for several years, in case the following years are drought years. The other important challenge is the increasing dependence of the state capital Fortaleza, located in a different basin, on water from the Jaguaribe basin. Decentralization of decisionmaking has taken place at two levels. Devolution from the federal to the state level in the past 15 years was highly successful. The state has created its own Water Resources Management Company (COGERH) which is responsible for water resources management throughout the state. Decentralization from state to local level has been more partial. Although COGERH has decentralized the allocation of strategic reservoir waters to local institutions, many traditional water management attributions continue under its and the state's purview, such as water permits, bulk water pricing, planning, operation and maintenance of hydraulic infrastructure, groundwater management, and control. The creation of sub-basin committees and user commissions has increased stakeholder participation of all types. Although so far stakeholder involvement has been limited largely to the negotiated allocation of water and to conflict resolution, these experiences represent a radical transformation in management practices, transforming water users from uninformed takers of water management decisions to informed and aware participants in the management process. That said, local stakeholders still have no say in some decisionmaking processes that affect them directly, such as bulk water pricing or inter-basin transfers to Greater Fortaleza, which continue solely under the control of state government agencies. The case of the Jaguaribe basin shows that (1) long-standing political support is of major importance in the development and implementation of water resources management reform, (2) that institutional arrangements for water resources management can successfully be adapted to local conditions to achieve positive outcomes, and (3) that even with initial conditions that seem to not favor change, decentralization can be achieved.Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Drought Management,Water and Industry,Water Conservation,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions

Sustainable water services and interaction with water resources in Europe and in Brazil

International audienceThe increasing interaction between large cities and nature makes "urban water" an issue: water resources and water services - including public water supply, sewage collection and treatment, and in large cities, storm water control -, which had become separate issues thanks to the process of water transport and treatment technologies, are now increasingly interfering with each other. We cannot take nature for granted anymore, and we need to protect water resources, if only to reduce the long term cost of transporting and treating water. In this paper, we compare the historical development of water industry technologies in European and Brazilian metropolitan areas, in their socio-economic and political context, tracing it through three "ages" of water technology and services which developed under civil engineering, sanitary engineering, and environmental engineering perspectives: the "quantity of water" and civil engineering paradigm was developed on the assumption that water should be drawn from natural environments far from the cities; in the "water quality" and chemical/sanitation engineering paradigm, water treatment was invented and allowed cities to take water from rivers closer to them and treat it, but also to reduce sewer discharge impacts; finally, the environmental engineering paradigm proposes to overcome the supply side perspective, by introducing demand side management, water conservation, water allocation flexibilisation, and an integrated approach to water services, water resources management, and land use policies

From the Roman Empire to Rio de Janeiro: society and models of sustainable water management

The purpose of this article is to carry out a content analysis around the historical influence of ancient societies’ ideas regarding sustainable water management. Ancient civilizations developed models and practices for the drainage, intake and transport of rainwater and wastewater. Despite the Roman Empire and the Moorish domination, Lisbon maintained its characteristics until the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing an urban and sanitary revolution, which lasted until the 19th Century, when the Portuguese Royal Family moved to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing several alterations inherited from the models and practices of irrigation techniques, hydraulic engineering and architecture of Lisbon. Data compilation in electronic spreadsheets and the use of NVivo software facilitated organizing the information and conclude that sustainable management models can be replicated as an inheritance of ancient societies.The purpose of this article is to carry out a content analysis around the historical influence of ancient societies’ ideas regarding sustainable water management. Ancient civilizations developed models and practices for the drainage, intake and transport of rainwater and wastewater. Despite the Roman Empire and the Moorish domination, Lisbon maintained its characteristics until the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing an urban and sanitary revolution, which lasted until the 19th Century, when the Portuguese Royal Family moved to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing several alterations inherited from the models and practices of irrigation techniques, hydraulic engineering and architecture of Lisbon. Data compilation in electronic spreadsheets and the use of NVivo software facilitated organizing the information and conclude that sustainable management models can be replicated as an inheritance of ancient societies.The purpose of this article is to carry out a content analysis around the historical influence of ancient societies’ ideas regarding sustainable water management. Ancient civilizations developed models and practices for the drainage, intake and transport of rainwater and wastewater. Despite the Roman Empire and the Moorish domination, Lisbon maintained its characteristics until the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing an urban and sanitary revolution, which lasted until the 19th Century, when the Portuguese Royal Family moved to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing several alterations inherited from the models and practices of irrigation techniques, hydraulic engineering and architecture of Lisbon. Data compilation in electronic spreadsheets and the use of NVivo software facilitated organizing the information and conclude that sustainable management models can be replicated as an inheritance of ancient societies.The purpose of this article is to carry out a content analysis around the historical influence of ancient societies’ ideas regarding sustainable water management. Ancient civilizations developed models and practices for the drainage, intake and transport of rainwater and wastewater. Despite the Roman Empire and the Moorish domination, Lisbon maintained its characteristics until the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing an urban and sanitary revolution, which lasted until the 19th Century, when the Portuguese Royal Family moved to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal, undergoing several alterations inherited from the models and practices of irrigation techniques, hydraulic engineering and architecture of Lisbon. Data compilation in electronic spreadsheets and the use of NVivo software facilitated organizing the information and conclude that sustainable management models can be replicated as an inheritance of ancient societies

Análise da situação ambiental na bacia hidrográfica do córrego São João, Porto Nacional – TO

The São João River Basin is entirely located in the southeast region of the Porto Nacional municipality, State of Tocantins, Brazil. Its main watercourse is the source for supplying the urban area of Porto Nacional. This article aims to characterize the environmental situation of the hydrographic basin in view of its condition of water source and the challenges of Porto Nacional water security. We used satellite images to characterize the different use and land cover, such as: forest formation, country vegetation; water bodies; anthropic use and urban areas, considering the years of 2006, 2011 and 2016. In addition, fieldwork and interviews were used for checking and deepening the information. The environmental conditions of the basin have been under increasingly pressure, mainly by agriculture and pasture in the rural area, but also by the notorious expansion of the urban area. Thus, the conservation of the natural conditions of the river basin needs practices and technologies of soil conservation and, above all: protection and restoration of ‘legal reserves’ (protected areas); protection and restoration of ‘permanent preservation areas’ (riparian and non-riparian zones); and protection of these areas which are currently being incorporated as productive areas in the basin. Keywords: River basin; São João River; Environmental situation; Porto-Nacional – TO.A bacia hidrográfica do Córrego São João situa-se inteiramente na porção sudeste do município de Porto Nacional - TO e tem como principal curso d’água o córrego homônimo, cujo principal uso é para o abastecimento público da sede municipal de Porto Nacional. Este artigo tem como objetivo caracterizar a situação ambiental da bacia hidrográfica frente aos desafios relacionados à sua condição de manancial de abastecimento público e à  segurança hídrica de Porto Nacional. Foram utilizadas imagens de satélite para a caracterização dos diferentes usos e coberturas do solo, como: formações florestais; vegetação campestre; corpos hídricos; uso antropizado e mancha urbana, considerando-se os anos de 2006, 2011 e 2016, além de trabalhos de campo para averiguação e aprofundamento dos resultados. As condições ambientais da bacia têm sido progressivamente pressionadas, sobretudo pela agricultura e pastagens em sua porção rural, além da notória expansão de loteamentos em sua porção urbana. Diante desse cenário, a conservação das condições naturais da bacia pressupõe práticas e tecnologias de conservação do solo em áreas de produção e, sobretudo: proteção e recuperação emergencial das reservas legais;  proteção e recuperação das áreas de preservação permanentes fluviais e não fluviais; e recuperação das áreas desmatadas que se enquadram nessas categorias e que atualmente estão sendo incorporadas como áreas produtivas da bacia. Palavras-Chave: Bacia Hidrográfica; Córrego São João; Situação Ambiental; Porto Nacional – TO

REDUÇÃO DE RISCOS DE DESASTRES ASSOCIADOS A INUNDAÇÕES: NOVA ABORDAGEM NAS POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS BRASILEIRAS

O presente artigo aborda as novas políticas públicas concebidas para a redução de riscos de desastres associados a inundação no Brasil. Apresenta o histórico do tratamento dos desastres no contexto internacional que culminou nos Marcos de Hyogo e de Sendai, voltados para a redução dos riscos de desastres. Explicita a situação atual do Brasil, no que diz respeito ao arcabouço legal e ao arranjo institucional voltados para a problemática dos riscos de inundação. Avalia a implementação da nova política de proteção e defesa civil sob a ótica da sua integração com outras políticas públicas. E discute os principais desafios para a transição de paradigma no Brasil para alinhamento às prioridades estabelecidas no Marco de Sendai

The social control and rainwater management in Brazil / O controle social e a gestão das águas pluviais no Brasil

The aim of this article is to discuss the conflicts of jurisdiction between the different entities of the Brazilian Federation about water management, particularly since these were not determined by the resolutions of the 1988 Federal Constitution. Although the role of the different players involved was outlined in the Water Resources Law, it was only through the enactment of the Law on Basic Sanitation, updated in 2020, that the municipalities were given responsibility for the management of rainwater in Brazil.  Rainwater management currently forms, or should form, a part of the municipal planning of basic sanitation and community involvement, together with transparency, is becoming a key principle underlying the new model of local governance. The adoption of sustainable techniques and non-conventional methods of water management, based on the concept of Low Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD), is serving as a model for the kind of rainwater management that can allow social control together with democratic participation and the decentralization of sanitation services

O CONCEITO EMERGENTE DE SEGURANÇA HÍDRICA

Em tempos de mudanças ambientais globais, o conceito de “segurança hídrica” tem surgido como forma de orientar a gestão dos recursos hídricos a resultados efetivos em termos de garantia de disponibilidade de água para os usos múltiplos que atenda às expectativas da sociedade, além de protegê-la contra os efeitos negativos dos eventos hidrológicos extremos. No âmbito internacional, o conceito de segurança hídrica começou a ser discutido na década de 90, sobretudo a partir de 2009 quando o assunto passou a ser objeto de maior número de publicações. No Brasil, pode-se dizer que a Lei Federal 9433/1997, que institui a Política Nacional de Recursos Hídricos no Brasil, e as leis estaduais correspondentes, trazem embutido o conceito de segurança hídrica. No entanto, somente a partir de 2014 este conceito ganhou espaço no país em função da crise hídrica vivenciada pelas principais capitais do Sudeste brasileiro, em particular a cidade de São Paulo; trata-se de um conceito ainda em construção. Este artigo tem como objetivo identificar e apresentar, por meio de uma extensa revisão da literatura, o conceito de segurança hídrica de organismos internacionais e publicações científicas, visando dar subsídios para sua melhor compreensão e discussão no contexto brasileiro

Conflitos socioambientais envolvendo a pesca artesanal na baía de Ilha Grande - Rio de Janeiro

Este artigo apresenta os principais conflitos envolvendo a pesca artesanal na Baía de Ilha Grande – BIG, no estado do Rio de Janeiro. A metodologia envolveu a observação direta em reuniões relacionadas a conselhos consultivos e grupos de trabalho em unidades de conservação, além de apresentações públicas sobre a proposta de “Acordos de Pesca” e audiências públicas (entre julho de 2010 a abril de 2013). De forma complementar, a pesquisa se baseou em uma extensae vasta análise documental, além de entrevistas. Os conflitos foram caracterizados em três grandes categorias: i) resultantes da sobreposição dos pesqueiros e áreas protegidas; ii) associados aos “barcos de fora”; e iii) resultantes da falta de regularização/ permissionamento. Em síntese, esses conflitos envolvem políticas de desenvolvimento e de conservação, que se confrontam com o modo de vida tradicional dos pescadores artesanaise caiçaras, além do papel paradoxal do Estado no estabelecimento das regras enormas de ordenamento

Uso e gestão da água: desafios para a sustentabilidade no meio rural.

Apresenta o processo de degradação dos serviços ecossistêmicos hidrológicos, bem como faz recomendações relativas ao uso e manejo conservacionista do solo e da água e discute os instrumentos de gestão da água, apontando os principais desafios com vistas à sustentabilidade no meio rural