Análise das outorgas de direito de uso dos recursos hídricos do canal adutor do sertão alagoano nos trechos em operação

Abstract

Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of droughts, making the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil more vulnerable due to the water deficit, which threatens the management of water resources (Araújo et al., 2016). In the state of Alagoas, to mitigate the impacts of drought and promote the socioeconomic development of the region, the State Government created, in 1992, the “Canal Adutor do Sertão Alagoano” project. Currently, with four sections in operation, the canal faces water and operational management challenges. In the State of Alagoas, the State Water Resources Policy is governed by State Law No. 5,965/1997, and lists among its management instruments the granting of the right to use water resources and charging for water use. These instruments are in Decree No. 40,183/2015, which transfers the management of the Channel to SEMARH. However, charging for the use of water from the sertão canal was never implemented by the SEMARH administration. In parallel, grants were authorized during its administration (2015 – 2023). However, some of these grants did not meet the technical criteria established in its legal framework for their concession. The lack of revenue makes it difficult to apply control and inspection measures. Furthermore, the issuance of permits without due legal compliance favors the inadequate exploitation of resources. The present work aimed to characterize and map the concessions of the Sertão Canal, along the sections in operation in the municipalities directly benefited. The analysis covered the period from 2015 to 2023, corresponding to the beginning and end of SEMARH's management. Data analysis was adopted as the methodology, with the support of the Power BI tool, used to build graphs and maps. The results provide an overview of the main purposes for using water and the authorized flow rates for use. The main purpose of using the backlands canal is irrigation, representing 94.53% of the total water intakes granted. Regarding the analysis of the annual flows of valid grants, human supply represents 75.57% of the total flow, despite representing only 3.18% of the number of grants. Irrigation accounts for 23.37% of annual flows and constitutes the majority of concessions, with 95.86%.