River Basin Management at the lowest appropriate levelWorld Bank WorkshopWarsaw, 22-25 May 2005

Brazilian case study (1):

Jaguaribe River Basin, Ceará, Brazil

authored by Rosa Maria Formiga Johnsson & Karin Erika Kemper

Summary

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil

2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin

3. Process of institutional creation

4. Current institutions and management activities

5. Performance and remaining issues

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Human pressure on water resources in Brazil

< 2 habitants/km2

25-50 habitants/km2

> 100 habitants/km2

Traditional industries

Trad.industries in transition

Primary goods, forest products and mining

“Industrial heart” of Brazil

Amazonien basin:558.000 m3/inhab/yr

Some basins ofNortheast Region:500 m3/inhab/yr

Area: 8,5 millions de km2

170 millions d’habitants

Federal waters:rivers crossingstate or international boundaries

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

State waters

Federal waters

State waters:groundwater resourcesand waters locatedentirely within theterritory of a single state, except thosecollected in federalreservoirs

Two levels of policy and institutionalframework for IWRM !

Constitutional norms for water ownership

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

The dynamics of approving the water laws in Brazil

Principles:

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Major objective of the National/State Water Policy:Reliability of water availability for current and future generations, at the desired level of water quality

Main elements of Brazilian water laws

Integrated water management, with the river basin as the planning unit Water as a finite and fragile resourceWater as an economic goodDecentralized managementParticipatory management

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Management instruments:

Main elements of Brazilian water laws

Basin water resources plans / National water resources planBulk water use permitsBulk water chargesClassification of water bodies

according to predominant use and water quality standardsNational water resource

information system

Organizations:

Main elements of Brazilian water laws (cont.)

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

National/State Water Council: in charge of supervising and regulating the National System, with stakeholder participation

National /State Water Resources Secretariat (SRH): in charge of elaborating the National Water Policy

National Water Agency (ANA)/State Water Management Agencies: in charge of implementing the Water Resources Management System

River Basin Committees: deliberative stakeholder bodies with decision-making and regulatory powers

Often, River Basin Agencies as the technical and administrative arms of the basin committees

State A

State B

Federal State

Two types of basins, two levels of complexities for RBM:

i) ‘National basin’: Federal and state organizations should interact at basin level

Two types of river basin

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

ii) ‘State basin’: less complex, state and occasionally federal organizations within one state territory

The Jaguaribe river basin

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Ceará State

JaguaribeBasin

72,560 km2 (48% of the

State’s territory; 0.9%

of Brazil)

Location and dimensions

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Jaguaribe Basin

80 municipalities, ~2 million people (~1/3 of Ceará’s population), 55% in urban areas

Poor (even for Ceará, which contributes only to 1.8% to the nation’s GNP: ); agriculture accounts for little part of it but with great social impact

Precipitation highly variable: 400 to 1,200 mm

Impermeable crystalline rocks in the soil and high temperatures => elevated rates of evapotranspiration (over 2000 mm) => low levels of water retention and storage

Main characteristics

Groundwater resources considered of limited importance but strategic in specific locations

AtlanticOcean

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Earlier water management practices

Water resources policy and management was traditionally the domain of federal initiative =) Main federal agency (DNOCS), created in the 1910s

Ceará State: focused on building small reservoirs and wells, usually during drought crises

Supply-based approach: solucão hidráulica (‘hydraulic solution’): over 4700 reservoirs (13.5 billion m3), before the reform, less than 50 considered “strategic”; 470 km of regulated rivers.

BUT:

Top-down patronage structure (centralized, rigid and lacked transparency): droughts were mitigate but continued to affect farmers and cities

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Major water resource problem

1) water scarcity

Recurrent droughts and uncertainty of water availability: drought at least every 5 years, and can persist over several years

“Waterless spaces” (vazios hídricos)

Growing urban demand inside the basin: urban demand start to compete with the major user of the basin (irrigation)

Growing urban demand and inter-basin transfers: Jaguaribebecame in 1992 the main water source for expanding Greater Fortaleza region; major infrastructure under construction: Castanhão reservoir (6.7 billion m3) was completed in 2003 and a 225 km waterway is under construction to take up to 19 m3/s for urban and industrial demand of Greater Fortaleza.

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Others water resource problems and issues (cont.)

2) Water quality and environmental concerns

3) Recurrent floods

4) Lack of knowledge about the real availability and utilization of groundwater resources

5) Inadequate operation and maintenance of water infrastructure

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Initiation of reform: initial conditions and context

Pre-existing conditions entirely unfavorable to increase stakeholder involvement and transparency in decision making:

poor basin; inexperienced state in management issues; patriarchal culture; lack of stakeholder mobilization, etc.

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Initiation of reform:motivations for change

Water related-problems

Post-dictatorship context and the national movement to promote integrated, decentralized and participatory management

The voluntary nature of reforms in Ceará (with strong long-term support from the World Bank)

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

What the reform is about

Building the institutional capacities of state government

Decentralizing water resources management=> Federal - state decentralization=> State - basin decentralization

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Objectives, principles and water instruments: the same of the federal and most Brazilian laws

Political and institutional structure: more centralized than the pioneer São Paulo and the federal law; major changes during process (COGERH)

Reform objectives and process

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

State Water Company (COGERH):

Reform objectives and process (cont.)

water use rights, technical support to basin committees,defining and implementing the water charges and the allocation of proceeds;O&M of bulk water supply infrastructure (state infrastructure and the strategic federal infrastructure)

More centralized model but…

…with a strong response from below (role of stakeholders around local organizations)

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Description of basin organizations (1):water users associations

Since 1994: 36 ‘reservoirs commissions’ and the ‘Jaguaribe-Banabuiú Valleys Commission’(informal organizations)

Composition very flexible: 63 members in 1994 and 111 in 2004 (users, civil society, municipalities and state)

Main activities and impact: permanent negotiation for water allocation, with the technical support from COGERH (decision over the volumes to be released from the reservoirs and the rules that must be respected by all users)Reservoir

commissionJaguaribe Banabuiúvalleys commission

Alto-Jaguaribe

Banabuiú

Salgado

Médio-Jaguaribe

Baixo-Jaguaribe

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Description of basin organizations (2):sub-basin committees

Created between 1998-2001

30 to 50 members: 30% users; 30% civil society; 20% municipalities; 20% state and federal agencies

Formal attributions: several responsibilities, from setting guidelines and approving basin plans, to conflict conciliation

Performance: information and mobilization; building capacity among local actors; concerns about water quality protection; mitigation of water conflicts.

Lack of technical, administrative and financial support => Basin committees still trying to define their roles and power

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

What worked

Great achievements after 12Great achievements after 12--years long reform processyears long reform process:

Capacity building of Ceará State for water resources security and management Minimum financial sustainability guaranteed through bulk water pricing (for abstraction only): from US$107,400 in 1996 to US$7.8 million in 2004 (only 6.5% are generated in the Jaguaribe basin)O&M of infrastructure: more effective (federal/DNOCS-state decentralization, sustained over time)water permits: advanced for industries, and water supply companies; expanding for irrigators (federal–state decentralization increased)

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

What worked (cont.)

Great improvement in technical information systemInvolvement of water users and civil society in water management issues (partial state-basin decentralization);More participative and transparent decisions over water allocation; More concerns about water quality and environmental problems More rational use and security of water, including flood control: reducing exposure to flooding

Great achievements after 12Great achievements after 12--years long reform years long reform process (cont.)process (cont.):

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Simply less decentralization from the state to local levels than elsewhere in Brazil

=> river basin scale is less relevant there for IWRM purposes, in favor of combining state level management at river basin with decision-making at smaller territorial levels such as sub-basins, regulated river valleys and reservoirs.

Innovation of Cearáin the Jaguaribe basin

1. Overview of the reform process in Brazil2. Brief background of Jaguaribe basin3. Process of institutional creation4. Current institutions and management activities5. Performance and remaining issues

Remaining issues

Internal institutional arrangement: Users associations vs Basin committees

Role of local organizations in the management system (more influence in decision making, especially with regard to infrastructure and water transfers)

Relationship between COGERH and basin organizations (political, financial and technical support, decisions over water charges)

Informal water allocation vs formal water permits

Charging irrigators

Building a more holistic management system (better groundwater management and water quality, incorporation of environmental issues)

Since 2003: return to more centralized policies

End

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