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Institutional and policy analysis of river basin management : the Alto-Tiete river basin, Sao Paulo, Brazil

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  • Johnsson, Rosa Maria Formiga
  • Kemper, Karin

Abstract

The authors describe and analyze river basin management in the most intensely urbanized and industrialized region of Brazil. The area covered by the Alto Tiete basin is almost coterminous with the Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo. With a drainage area of 5,985 square kilometers (2.4 percent of the state's territory), the basin encompasses 35 of the 39 municipalities and 99.5 percent of the population of Greater Sao Paulo. Population growth and urban sprawl in Greater Sao Paulo have been rapid and uncontrolled in recent decades. In 2000, 17.8 million people lived in the basin and by 2010 the population is estimated to reach 20 million. This massive human occupation was accompanied by the large-scale construction of water infrastructure, including dams, pumping stations, canals, tunnels, and inter-basin transfers to and from neighboring basins. Today, the Alto-Tiete basin is served by a complex hydraulic and hydrological system. Despite this extensive water infrastructure, the water availability of the region is still very low (201 m3-hab-an) and even lower than the semiarid regions of the Brazilian Northeast. The two key management issues to be addressed in the Alto Tiete basin are water quantity to supply a burgeoning population, and water quality which is deteriorating to a point where water availability for a range of uses is severely affected. Urban flood control and mitigation represents another major challenge in the basin. Although important achievements have been made over the past 15 years, the decentralization process - characterized by the creation of the Alto-Tiete committee and its subcommittees and some financing from the State Water Resources Fund - has yet to reveal measurable physical results such as the improvement of water quality or the rationalization of water use. It is undeniable that the Alto-Tiete committee and its subcommittees have already played an important leadership role around several issues. An extraordinary mobilization around water issues, problems, and management has occurred, even though solving many water-related problems may be beyond the capacity of the committees or even of the water resources management system as a whole. Charging for water remains one of the key issues in making the Alto Tiete Committee more relevant and giving it more say in water investment and management decisions. As long as such decisions remain at the individual agency level (both state and municipal), decisionmaking will remain fragmented and it is unlikely that key policy instruments to curb water demand increases and pollution will be implemented.

Suggested Citation

  • Johnsson, Rosa Maria Formiga & Kemper, Karin, 2005. "Institutional and policy analysis of river basin management : the Alto-Tiete river basin, Sao Paulo, Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3650, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3650
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Easter, K. William & Hearne, Robert R. & DEC, 1993. "Decentralizing water resource management : economic incentives, accountability, and assurance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1219, The World Bank.
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    1. Estache, Antonio & Garsous, Grégoire & Seroa da Motta, Ronaldo, 2016. "Shared Mandates, Moral Hazard, and Political (Mis)alignment in a Decentralized Economy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 98-110.
    2. Venot, Jean-Philippe, 2009. "Rural dynamics and new challenges in the Indian water sector: the trajectory of the Krishna Basin, South India," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    3. Estache, Antonio & Garsous, Grégoire & Seroa da Motta, Ronaldo, 2016. "Shared Mandates, Moral Hazard, and Political (Mis)alignment in a Decentralized Economy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 98-110.
    4. Cavalcante, Ana Helena A. P., 2015. "Barriers and opportunities for climate adaptation: The water crisis in Greater São Paulo," The Constitutional Economics Network Working Papers 04-2015, University of Freiburg, Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory.
    5. Martin Roestamy & Mohamad Ali Fulazzaky, 2022. "A review of the water resources management for the Brantas River basin: challenges in the transition to an integrated water resources management," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 11514-11529, October.
    6. Rebecca Neaera Abers & Margaret E. Keck, 2009. "Mobilizing the State: The Erratic Partner in Brazil's Participatory Water Policy," Politics & Society, , vol. 37(2), pages 289-314, June.
    7. Xiaokai Li & Graeme Turner & Liping Jiang, 2012. "Grow in Concert with Nature : Sustaining East Asia's Water Resources through Green Water Defense," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 9370, December.
    8. Dinar, Ariel & Kemper, Karin & Blomquist, William & Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep, 2007. "Whitewater: Decentralization of river basin water resource management," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 851-867.
    9. World Bank, 2007. "Making the Most of Scarcity : Accountability for Better Water Management Results in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6845, December.
    10. Renzo Taddei, 2011. "Watered-down democratization: modernization versus social participation in water management in Northeast Brazil," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(1), pages 109-121, February.
    11. Salmoral, Gloria & Garrido, Alberto, 2015. "The Common Agricultural Policy as a driver of water quality changes: the case of the Guadalquivir River Basin (southern Spain)," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 4(2), pages 1-21, August.
    12. Theesfeld, Insa, 2011. "Perceived power resources in situations of collective action," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 86-103.
    13. Dinar, Ariel & Kemper, Karin & Blomquist, William & Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep, 2006. "The Process and Performance of Decentralization of River Basin Resource Management: A Global Analysis," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21093, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Lay Mei Sim & Akio Onishi & Olivier Gervais & Ngai Weng Chan, 2018. "Comparative Research on River Basin Management in the Sagami River Basin (Japan) and the Muda River Basin (Malaysia)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-17, May.
    15. Tri Sulistyaningsih & Achmad Nurmandi & Salahudin Salahudin & Ali Roziqin & Muhammad Kamil & Iradhad T. Sihidi & Ach. Apriyanto Romadhan & Mohammad Jafar Loilatu, 2021. "Public Policy Analysis on Watershed Governance in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-21, June.
    16. Theesfeld, Insa & Pirscher, Frauke (ed.), 2011. "Perspectives on institutional change - water management in Europe," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 58, number 109519.
    17. Rebecca Neaera Abers & Margaret E. Keck, 2006. "Muddy Waters: The Political Construction of Deliberative River Basin Governance in Brazil," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 601-622, September.
    18. Merrey, Douglas J. & Levite, Herve & van Koppen, Barbara, 2009. "Are good intentions leading to good outcomes? continuities in social, economic and hydro-political trajectories in the Olifants River Basin, South Africa," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.

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