Acesso à água e governança hídrica: um estudo em comunidades rurais do semiárido paraibano

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to understand how access to, and governance of water takes place in the communities of Jurema and Juá, located in the municipalities of Itatuba and Mogeiro, in the Agreste region of Paraíba. We sought to identify how these peripheral communities had access to water and assimilate how social actors participated in the water governance process. The investigation considered the main actors involved in the water governance process: local communities and bodies linked to Water Resources Policies. The research was guided by two perspectives: the first, social, comprising the process of appropriation of water by the communities, and, in a political perspective, through the survey of the forms of participation of local actors in the process of Water Governance. In order to achieve a multidimensional and integrated understanding of the social, political, and governmental dynamics of the investigated communities, we opted for the modality of social research with a qualitative-quantitative methodological approach. Among the survey results, the following stand out: (1) the household situation of the municipalities under study, with a significant percentage of the population living in rural areas, Itatuba (42%) and Mogeiro (55%); (2) inexistence of a water supply network in the rural areas of the municipalities; (3) lack of water quality monitoring; (4) the inexpressive use of groundwater in the region, with only one well in use registered by the CPRM, in the studied communities; (5) the non-existing political participation of residents of the Communities regarding water governance in the region; (6) the lack of contact between the localities and the water management bodies in the State. From the development of this study, it is considered that its results can serve as a comparative basis for other regions; point out possible weaknesses of the adopted water management model; and support a possible formulation of new water governance policies based on the diagnosis carried out