Management of water sources of local interest for public supply

Abstract

Surface and groundwater are springs that serve as a source of drinking water in most regions across the globe. In Brazil, about 16% of the population lives in rural areas (IBGE, 2022), considered the most deficient in terms of access to water. Urban centers with up to 50 thousand inhabitants represent 89% of Brazilian cities, and depend on small water supply systems. These water bodies, or water systems, are called in this proposal as "of local interest", as opposed to "regional" water bodies, which supply various municipalities or urban centers. The study areas correspond to hydrographic basins located in regions of Tropical Seasonal Dry Forests (TSDF), Caatinga and Cerrado. In these basins, the evapotranspiration (ET) component corresponds to between 85% and 95% of the long-term precipitation, that is, only between 5% and 15% of the precipitation will be converted into surface runoff, feeding the water sources and may be available for community. Like ET, recharge is one of the most underestimated components of the hydrological cycle, often being attributed as a residue of other components. Two hypotheses are considered in this proposal: 1- The water availability of sources of local interest can be estimated with better accuracy if there is an improvement in the estimates of evapotranspiration in the basin (ET), soil cover and recharge of aquifers and/or reservoirs; 2- Reducing uncertainty in estimating water availability from sources of local interest can increase the effectiveness of aquifer and/or reservoir management processes. With the exchange of ideas and human resources, it is expected to create a link between the institutions, train human resources at a high level from the development of academic works related to the project and advance in ways to communicate such results to water resource managers via river basin committees. (AU)