From mud to chaos: an estuary called Guanabara Bay

This paper aims to analyze the “water flow” in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the unequal power relations involved in its management, and the consequence of this situation in peripheral areas. To this end, we carried out a literature review, interviews with managers, water users and civil society representatives, and analyzed the Water User Registration provided by the governing body. We verified that in the context of social and spatial mutations linked to industrialization and to huge investments for a (new) cleaning-up of Guanabara Bay, the guarantee of access to water, as well as the treatment given to users, continues to vary significantly in Rio de Janeiro.