Water safety on Castanhão reservoir, Ceará, Brazil: application of institutional systematization matrix

ABSTRACT Water security involves sustainable use and water system protection, in order to have water in quantity and quality acceptable to the health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production. Regarding water quantity management, many advances have occurred since the approval of the Brazilian Water Resources Policy in 1997. The competences and responsibilities of each entity of the system are defined in the relevant legislation. Regarding water quality management, however, there is a large number of applicable regulations and competent institutions to act in the supervision and regulation of the matter. Due to this range of information, the need to systematize and synthesize the legal/institutional framework is configured. For this finality, this work proposes to associate the institutional systematization matrix methodology with the environmental monitoring instruments already practiced in Ceará, Brazil. It is hoped that this association will allow the visualization of potentially polluting sources, relevant regulations and competent institutions. The methodology was applied to the Castanhão Reservoir, in the State of Ceará, Brazil. With this methodology, it was possible to identify that 50% of pollutant sources are generated by public entities (Companhia de Água e Esgoto do Ceará - CAGECE; Serviço Autônomo de Água e Esgoto - SAAE; or city halls) and the other 50% correspond to individuals or legal entities. This means that control actions over public entities could solve an important part of the hydrographic basin pollution. Regulatory agencies and the independent environment entities can contribute to reduce pollution sources.