What Governance Failures Reveal about Water Resources Management in a Municipality of Brazil

Humans have historically chosen to develop their cities close to rivers due to the need for water and food security. In Brazil, water security represents a growing challenge, despite advances in the National Water Resources Management System. While municipalities are responsible for integrating the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2022-02, Vol.14 (4), p.2144
Main Authors: Nicollier, Valérie, Cordeiro Bernardes, Marcos Eduardo, Kiperstok, Asher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cities
Environmental management
Failure
Federal government
Food security
Hydrology
International organizations
Municipalities
Population
Public policy
Rivers
Sanitation
Sustainability
Urban planning
Water governance
Water management
Water policy
Water resources
Water resources management
Water security
Water shortages
Water supply
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Summary:Humans have historically chosen to develop their cities close to rivers due to the need for water and food security. In Brazil, water security represents a growing challenge, despite advances in the National Water Resources Management System. While municipalities are responsible for integrating the various public policies that impact urban rivers, such as the environment, basic sanitation, and urban planning, only states and the federal government, along with watershed committees, have a formal role in the National Water Resources Management System. The goal of this paper is to assess the Brazilian water governance system from the perspective of municipalities. The OECD water governance framework is applied to a medium-sized Brazilian municipality (c. 200,000 inhabitants), Itabuna, Bahia state, through perception-based and objective data. Studies dealing with water governance do not address this reality, despite representing more than 90% Brazilian municipalities and approximately half of the country’s population. Several water governance failures were identified, such as connections between administrative and political failures, which highlight the tragic consequences of hydrological issues in this region. Developing integrated water resources’ management, as fixed in national and state laws, depends on the effective participation of the municipality. This study discusses the importance of water governance at the municipal scale.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14042144