Water Management across scales in the Sao Francisco Basin: Policy options and poverty consequences

Abstract

The São Francisco River provides about 70% of the surface water in Northeast Brazil and like much of Brazil the basin includes communities characterized by a broad range of incomes and persistent poverty (Brito and Gichuki 2003). The basin’s agricultural systems cover a similar range between capitalized export-focused enterprises and subsistence farms. Major corporations and cottage industries comprise the industrial water use sector while cities and towns tap the basin for municipal supplies. The basin also hosts several important water-dependent ecological zones. Increasingly, the complex web linking water availability, water quality, water productivity, economic growth, poverty alleviation and community and ecosystem health is coming into focus. Conflict for water among various water user communities and sectors is becoming common, often with negative consequences for resource-poor stakeholders. Surface water shortfalls in some areas have increased groundwater utilization leading to soil salination