Proposta para avaliação de processos de alocação negociada de água a partir do caso do reservatório Epitácio Pessoa (PB)

Abstract

Water allocation is a management tool designed to regulate multiple uses of water and applied as a conflict resolution mechanism. Therefore, in order to investigate the real usefulness of an allocation process, this research considered requirements that, after being observed (or not) in a water allocation regime, based on the dimensions of Social Equity, Environmental Sustainability and Economic Efficiency, - which are indicated by the OECD (2015) -, will make it possible to evaluate the mechanism in question with the objective of proposing a methodology to evaluate negotiated water allocations. The Epitácio Pessoa reservoir, located in Boqueirão (state of Paraíba – Brazil), was adopted as the object of study because its historical vulnerability to water crises, its role in the water supply of 30 locations in Paraíba (totaling almost 700 thousand people served by the reservoir) and because of its fulfillment of agricultural demands. Then, the allocation process underway in the Poções-Epitácio Pessoa Water System was analyzed, through the establishment of scores between 0 and 1 for each requirement analyzed. To this end, documents related to the allocation, including the Allocation Terms and the Monthly Monitoring Bulletins, were investigated. Based on this score obtained, it was possible to assess, in the general scenario, that the negotiated allocation of water in the Epitácio Pessoa reservoir is considered optimal, since 85.56% of the requirements are verified in the allocation regime under study, as well as it is proposed that the methodology can be applied to other Water Systems.