ANÁLISE CRÍTICA DA POLÍTICA FEDERAL E ESTADUAL DE LEGISLAÇÃO DOS RECURSOS HÍDRICOS EM GOIÁS: UM ESTUDO DE CASO / CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF FEDERAL AND STATE WATER RESOURCES LEGISLATION POLICY IN GOIÁS: A CASE STUDY

This article shows how geo-legal devices created to deal with environmental crisis situations make access to drinking water precarious and contribute to the overexploitation and contamination of water resources. It relies on qualitative methods (interviews, observations, archive work) to identify and analyse two geo-legal devices applied in the case study of the Elqui Valley in Chile. The first device, generated by the Declaration of Water Scarcity, allows private sanitation companies to concentrate water rights and extend their supply network, thus producing an overexploitation of water resources. In the context of mining pollution, the second device is structured around the implementation of the Rural Drinking Water Programme and the distribution of water by tankers, which has made access to drinking water more precarious for the population and does nothing to prevent pollution.

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Decision Support for the (Inter-)Basin Management of Water Resources Using Integrated Hydro-Economic Modeling

Hydrology ◽

10.3390/hydrology8010042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 42

Author(s):

Gerald Norbert Souza da Silva ◽

Márcia Maria Guedes Alcoforado de Moraes

Keyword(s):

Decision Support ◽

Water Resources ◽

Water Allocation ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Well Being ◽

Water Transfer ◽

Economic Modeling ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Study Results

The development of adequate modeling at the basin level to establish public policies has an important role in managing water resources. Hydro-economic models can measure the economic effects of structural and non-structural measures, land and water management, ecosystem services and development needs. Motivated by the need of improving water allocation using economic criteria, in this study, a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) with a hydro-economic optimization model (HEAL system) was developed and used for the identification and analysis of an optimal economic allocation of water resources in a case study: the sub-middle basin of the São Francisco River in Brazil. The developed SDSS (HEAL system) made the economically optimum allocation available to analyze water allocation conflicts and trade-offs. With the aim of providing a tool for integrated economic-hydrological modeling, not only for researchers but also for decision-makers and stakeholders, the HEAL system can support decision-making on the design of regulatory and economic management instruments in practice. The case study results showed, for example, that the marginal benefit function obtained for inter-basin water transfer, can contribute for supporting the design of water pricing and water transfer decisions, during periods of water scarcity, for the well-being in both basins.

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Co-creating narratives for WEF nexus governance: a Quantitative Story-Telling case study in the Canary Islands

Sustainability Science ◽

10.1007/s11625-021-00933-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Violeta Cabello ◽

David Romero ◽

Ana Musicki ◽

Ângela Guimarães Pereira ◽

Baltasar Peñate

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Canary Islands ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Quantitative Information ◽

Practical Case ◽

Story Telling ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Narrative Assessment ◽

Alternative Water

AbstractThe literature on the water–energy–food nexus has repeatedly signaled the need for transdisciplinary approaches capable of weaving the plurality of knowledge bodies involved in the governance of different resources. To fill this gap, Quantitative Story-Telling (QST) has been proposed as a science for adaptive governance approach that aims at fostering pluralistic and reflexive research processes to overcome narrow framings of water, energy, and food policies as independent domains. Yet, there are few practical applications of QST and most run on a pan-European scale. In this paper, we apply the theory of QST through a practical case study regarding non-conventional water sources as an innovation for water and agricultural governance in the Canary Islands. We present the methods mixed to mobilize different types of knowledge and analyze interconnections between water, energy, and food supply. First, we map and interview relevant knowledge holders to elicit narratives about the current and future roles of alternative water resources in the arid Canarian context. Second, we run a quantitative diagnosis of nexus interconnections related to the use of these resources for irrigation. This analysis provides feedback to the narratives in terms of constraints and uncertainties that might hamper the expectations posed on this innovation. Thirdly, the mixed analysis is used as fuel for discussion in participatory narrative assessment workshops. Our experimental QST process succeeded in co-creating new knowledge regarding the water–energy–food nexus while addressing some relational and epistemological uncertainties in the development of alternative water resources. Yet, the extent to which mainstream socio-technical imaginaries surrounding this innovation were transformed was rather limited. We conclude that the potential of QST within sustainability place-based research resides on its capacity to: (a) bridge different sources of knowledge, including local knowledge; (b) combine both qualitative and quantitative information regarding the sustainable use of local resources, and (c) co-create narratives on desirable and viable socio-technical pathways. Open questions remain as to how to effectively mobilize radically diverse knowledge systems in complex analytical exercises where everyone feels safe to participate.

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