Integrated water resource management to overcome the insecurity in the countryside and city

Abstract

The SACRE thematic project is an initiative that seeks new and traditional solutions that, originally organized in a multi-solution platform, reduce the vulnerability to water shortages in the countryside and cities, considering the significant investment limitations in the water infrastructure sector, the reduced experience in the governance of surface and groundwater resources, and the problems associated with global climate change in Brazil. The SACRE Project is structured in five WP (work packages) that seek to develop new methods of treating contaminated aquifers with low-cost techniques (including reactive and phytoremediation barriers) (WP1, WP2 &WP3); and increased water availability (including riverbank filtration, managed aquifer recharge) (WP4), organized in a logical management system, based on socio-economic and cultural and water-allocation criteria (WP5). This Post- Doctorate (PD) is inserted in the SACRE and will work mainly in WP 4 (water availability and quantity management) and WP5. However, it will transition to other WPs related to quality aspects (WP1, 2&3). WP5 is the one that will seek to integrate the solutions developed between all parts of SACRE. Among the various original aspects of this project, the PD will work on the concept of "private water producers". This concept goes beyond private wells and refers to: (I) wells or springs managed by private owners; (II) water reuse producers; and (III) farmers, who control or restrict their agricultural activity to reduce water demand in exchange for financial compensation, including direct and indirect subsidies. The main objectives of the PD project are: (I) demonstrate with field experiments and numerical simulations a new approach to territory and water management arrangement based on the conjunctive-use of surface and groundwater in the upper part of Bauru and Batalha's hydrographic basins. The goal will be to increase urban and agricultural water security, trace water allocation strategies, and effectively integrate different "private water producers" and promote adequate land management planning and financial compensation mechanisms; (II) understand and quantify water availability, and the role of aquifer storage in regulating surface river-flows and groundwater availability in the Batalha and Bauru watersheds, specifically during periods of drought, through conceptual and surface-groundwater numerical transient models, incorporating problems associated to global climate change; and (III) seek a new institutional and social arrangement that involves "private water producers" as part of the public supply solution in a context of low investment, with a specific focus on the financial health and sustainability of the public water utility considering the presence of extensive private well owners. (AU)