A Historical Perspective on the Administration of Water in Brazil

José Nilson B. Campos and Ticiana M. C. Studart, IWRA Members,

Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil

Abstract: This article focuses two instruments of water resources management – charging

and reallocation by water market. It is shown that the process of charging water in nature has

being practiced over centuries in some specific and particular cases. On the other hand, it is

shown that a culture of free access to water was the dominant in most countries and during

ancient times. An historical review on the charging of water and its administration is presented.

The article embraces from the time of Ancient Rome to nowadays. In the current days, it is

presented the model practiced in the Semi-Arid Region of Ceará State in Northeast of Brazil.

Regarding to water reallocation by water market, as an alternative to improve water efficiency,

the experience presented comes from the South of Ceará State one century ago. Based on the past

experience, the article presents a model to implementing a restrict water market bounded in space

to a district of irrigation, and in time to the periods of deficit in water supply by the reservoirs.

Six prerequisites to market-based transfers of water are analyzed and it is shown that in the

proposed model they can be attended.

Keywords: water charging, water management, water market, water administration

Introduction

“The day, the water, the sun, the moon, the night – these are things that I don’t need to buy

with money”, wrote the roman playwright Titus Muccius Plautus more than two thousand years

ago. The analogy made by Plautus among the five entities probably was based on the recurrent

character of these events, which happened independently of people's wills. Those five entities are

consequences of the cycles of rotation of the celestial bodies - Sun, Earth and Moon. However,

the water has some particularities, as its quantitative limitation and qualitative vulnerability, don’t

perceived by Plautus at that time.

A lot of societies were developed based on the expressed Plautus’ vision. People lived close

to water sources and drew it whenever they needed. However, along the time, cities and

populations kept on increasing and, as result, generating new problems and the need for new

solutions. After the Industrial Revolution the process was accelerated. The water demands were

multiplied. The increasing of demands implied in lacking of supply during dry periods. The

secular technique of transporting water along the time through reservoirs was intensified. To

make this temporal transportation, big reservoirs were built, involving huge costs. The bulk water

started having significant costs. Even in the rivers, the waters stopped running only by nature’s

force: the man had started to strongly intervene in terrestrial phase of the hydrologic cycle.

This evolution on the way of using water resulted in the need for changing the way of

managing it. The bodies of water - rivers, lakes and reservoirs - started to receive pollution loads

in amounts beyond their purification capacities. The waters became more and more polluted. To

consume them, the society started to pay high treatment costs. The pollution aspect associated to

2

environmental disasters made the society wake up for a new way of seeing and managing water

resources and environment. Then the search for new paradigms was accentuated.

This article deals with the way the water resources were administrated in the past and with

the search of a new way to administrate these resources. In this new way, the multidisciplinary

approach showed up to be completely necessary. In the same way, it is showed that to modulate a

better future for our common world it is necessary look to past, all over the world, and learning

with these experiences.

Water Administration - Old Times

Up to 440 years after the foundation of Rome, the Romans needs of water were satisfied by

the water that they drew from the Tyber, from wells or from springs. After that, when the city

became a big one, Romans built the first complex water distribution system registered in History.

Instead of people go to the water, the water run to the city in longs aqueducts as Appian, Old

Anio, Marcia, Tepula, Virgo and Alsietina. To manage such a complex water system, the Romans

had an administrative structure headed by a Water Commissioner selected by the Emperor.

(Frontinus, Reprint 1997)

Julius Frontinus IV was appointed Water Commissioner of Rome by the Emperor Nerva

Augustus. Trying to organize his administration, Frontinus wrote two books registering facts and

describing the water system of Rome at that time. Frontinus´ books has been the main source in

the learning process of water administration with the past.

In Ancient Rome the water administration was competence of a Water Commission (Statio

Aquarum), headed by the Water Commissioner (Curator Aquarum) assisted by two Praetorians

3

(adjustotes). The Water Commissioner was appointed for life by the Emperor, with Senate’s

approval. The Water Commission maintained registers with double entries: one to evaluate water

availability and the other to register attended demands (modern concept of water rights

concessions by the State ).

In that bureaucratic structure for water administration, there was a figure of the water-man,

that received water from the state to furnish it to the consumers. According to Frontinus, the

water-men that managed the intake to Tusculan ( the modern Frascati) used to divert water for

their own profit. Commenting Frontinus statement, Lanciani (1880) wrote: “ It is in the instinct

of both ancient and modern water guards to commit such frauds..." Even today, if one looks

around, it is possible observe that this instinct is still alive in human nature.

The Free Water Culture

The ideas expressed by Plautus, prior cited, were not original. They were old ideas, already

inserted in habits and laws, placed in an elegant way by the playwright. A historical retrospective

allows capturing parts of texts that ratify the culture and the right to free water access.

The Talmudic Law, written between the fifth and the third century BC, established that

rivers and streams which form springs, belong to all citizen (cives). The Law also recognized the

existence of public wells and the access right to aliens (peregrini). The Law of the Visigoths (Lex

Vishigothorum of the century VII DC) established free access for sailing, fishing and other

community uses in the largest courses of water (flumina maiora) (Caponera, 1992).

4

Evidences of Charging for Bulk Water

If there are evidences of free water culture along all the times, there are also evidences of

civilizations in which the water distribution was made under the state administration and with

some charging. In ancient China, the Li-Chi established: " In spring, all life starts and rains of

heaven fall on earth, and therefore, let the waters run and irrigate the fields...; in the summer

months, build dams and dykes and store the waters goes later consumption,...; in the winter

months, life ceases and therefore hardship arrives, let inspection of work and collection of water

rates and taxes be undertaken... punish offenders..."(Caponera 1992).

Even in Rome, in Frontinus’ time, although almost all the water were distributed for public

use, there were a part destined to Emperor and Privates. Privates received water by a written

permission (epistula a principe) and were submitted to the payment of a water tax (Frontinus,

reprint 1997).

Reasons for Charging Water

Analyzing those text fragments on the water administration during ancient times, some

possible reasons for charging and not charging water in different societies can be identified. The

philosophy of Plautus referred to the access to the running waters in rivers or streams and spring

waters. This was the predominant philosophy.

On the other hand, charging for bulk water in ancient China certainly did not have the same

objectives that it has today. Even the word tax may have today a technical different meaning. But

the truth is that there were situations where the water was charged. The water charging in Rome,

5

to people who had the privilege of receiving water at home, are similar to our modern water

distribution systems.

The experiences reviewed show that the charging or free access of water could be found in

different situations like:

The people had free access to rivers, and springs;

In situations in which the waters were distributed to the people, they had to pay a

tax;

In situations in which dams were necessary for irrigated agriculture, there was

also a tax.

Many situations on water administration faced in old times are found in modern societies

and similar procedures are being taken. A great difference between these procedures certainly is

the recent concern on environmental impact of municipal and industrial effluents on the water

quality of rivers and lakes.

The Attitude Towards Water pos-Middle Ages

There was a period in History, pos-Middle Ages, in which people had fright of the water.

The people used perfumes and water was used with a lot of parsimony. Those practice made the

strong scent generated by perfumes synonymous of prosperity. Washing clothes was not

frequently either. They were made twice a year.

In that context, it is obvious that no significant evolution in the way of water administration

have took place. At the end of 18th century hygiene habits had changed. The birth of an associated

6

water culture made an inflection point in the water consuming curve and also represented the

very beginning of the acceleration of water quality degradation process.

Water Administration – Contemporary Times

The last decades were marked by an accelerated growth on water demand, which is rising

today at a rate never experienced at any previous moment in history. Human use of water has

increased more than 35-fold over the past three centuries and four-fold since 1940 (Easter and

Hearne, 1995).

The search for a new water administration policy had been made all over the world. Several

countries faced growing problems on unbalanced demand/supply and degradation on water

quality and different models of water administration have being implemented. They vary from

each other in many aspects, due the diversity of people, culture, customs, history and beliefs

involved.

Two models are being widely discussed and recommended by various international

organizations – the water marketing and the negotiation approach, based on successfully

experiences in the western part of United States and in France, respectively. Ideologically they

represent two opposite poles – the Water Market Model is based on individual property rights and

the French Model stress collective negotiation rather than individual decision making (Kemper,

1996).

Brazilian Water Resources Administration

The French Model exercised great influence in the Brazilian Model, but it is not evident

that the implementation of this model in Brazil, a country completely different from France in so

7

many aspects – such as cultural and geographic, just to mention two – would produce the same

positive results.

To understand the complexity of adopting a single water administration model for a such

huge country as Brazil it is important a geo-political classification of the site in which the process

takes place. In that way, that section begins classifying the areas according to the occurrences of

the water and its pollution. In an academic exercise, the possible approaches for a site

classification would be the water availability and pollution activities level in area. In that way,

three classes could be defined:

areas with abundance of water and little pollution activities;

areas with abundance of water and a lot of pollution activities;

areas with scarcity of water and some pollution activity.

It could be also defined areas with scarcity of water and without pollution activities. Those

areas would be deserts, or semi-deserts, which have no interest in the present study. If the geo-

politics areas in Brazil were analyzed – three different “Brazil” should be found: Brazil number

one - represented by the North Region (Amazon Basin); Brazil number two - represented by the

South and Southeast Regions, where the industrialization and the water pollution already reached

high levels; Brazil number three - represented by the Northeast Region, where the recurrent

droughts postponed the industrialization for years, but now is starting to concern water

managers. Each Brazil has its own culture and different way of handling the problem of the

water.

It would be very hard to make the amazon people understand charging bulk water in

Amazon River. Then charging bulk water in Brazil number one would be think in a very distant 8

future. In Brazil number two, on the other hand, charging for bulk water use is already in

discussion or even inserted in some states’ water laws. In Brazil number three, in the State of

Ceará, the charging process is already being implemented.

Water Charging in Brazil

To understand the evolution of the process of charging for bulk water in Brazil, both in law

and in habits, is important to make a retrospective view.

Irrigation Law

The Irrigation Law (Law No. 6,662 of June 25, 1979) disposes in its Article 21 that the use

of public waters for irrigation sector will depend of the remuneration to be established by

regulation.

Its regulation (Art. 21 - Decree No. 9,496 of March 29, 1984) classifies the public waters in

permanent and eventual according to following criterions:

permanent waters are public waters correspondent to the minimum discharge in all

seasons;

eventual waters are the surpluses to the minimum discharges of the rivers.

In Article 24 there is established that the authorized persons (which received eventual

waters) will pay 50% of the values established for the concessionaires (which received

permanent waters). It can be observed that the Law had already incorporated the principle of

higher prices to higher supply reliability. However, only two levels of reliability were considered:

the first one was associated to a supposed 100% reliability and the second was associated to a

9

not-defined reliability. It is also clear that the law is not completely applicable for the three

“Brazils”.

The water charging in the new water policy

The new approach of the Brazilian Water Policy suffered a great influence of the European

on-going process, mostly in France. The Brazilian Water Resources Association, through its

congresses and declarations, constitutes now the main institution to drive the new water policy.

A great mark of that process happened in 1997, with the National Water Resources Law

(Federal Law No. 9,433). Water was recognized as a limited resource, playing an important role

in economic and social development, and charging for water was understood as a fundamental

instrument for its rational use and conservation.

Economic incentives – such as charging - are based on the main principle of Economic

Theory which assumes that an individual is rational, a homo oeconomicus, constantly trying to

maximize his utility or satisfaction (Kemper, 1996). This is very important, once it implies that

man’s reaction to economical incentives is predictable: the buyer has interest in acquiring larger

amounts of a certain product when its price lowers, as well as he is taken to restrict or to reduce

his consumption when the price rises. So, it can be said, in water management field, that the

amount of water demanded tends to vary inversely with the price, and the demand curve has a

negative slope (Winpenny, 1994).

The charging in Brazilian’s Law has three objectives: 1) to make the population recognize

the water as economic good; 2) to incentive the rational use of water; 3) to get funds to financing

programs in River Basins Water Management Plans. However, objectives one and two are not

10

being considered. Recent study carried out in some states showed that the Charging Policy in

Brazil is being built mainly to get funds, than to rationalize the water use. ( Ribeiro, Lanna and

Pereira, 1999).

The Law establishes also the situations in which water is not subject to permits for

withdraw. They are:

Satisfaction of water needs of small population nuclei in rural areas;

Insignificant derivations, receptions and sewer releases;

Insignificant water withdraw.

It is not clear, however, if these situations are subject to charging or not. There is no

emphasis on the social role of water in the Law.

Water Administration in Ceará - Brazil

From the beginning of this century up to the end of its third quartile, the Water Policy in

Ceará, a region classified as a Brazil number three was practically defined and executed by the

Federal Government, through the National Department of Works to Overcome Droughts

(DNOCS). Only in the past three decades, the state government started to influence and acting

directly in that sector. Due this fact the water policy and history in Ceará are presented in two

parts: the first one referring to the first three quartiles and the second, to the last quartile of the

20th Century.

11

The Water Policy in Ceará – The First Three Quartiles of 20th Century

There were real situations where the bulk water was already charged by the Government

since the beginning of this century.

The water charging for irrigation purposes

The water regulated by reservoirs was used for irrigation purposes obeying the following

criterions:

the channels were built in private properties with the owner's permission;

the use of the water was made by payment corresponding to the amount of

intended water;

the water price was established by ministerial decree;

there was a water guard (like water-man in Frontinus time) in each reservoir in

charge of  the release and the conduction of the volume of water adduced for the irrigation

channels.

This policy was practiced for a long period. However, during high inflation times the

price, after few months, always reached a very low level and the bureaucratic structure not

always adjusted it on a required speed. Many times, the cost to collect water taxes became higher

than the money collected. This policy was then abandoned.

The water charging for power generation 12

In the beginning of the hydraulic infrastructure establishment in Northeast Region,

DNOCS used to install a small hydro-electrical plant in its reservoirs. It was done in General

Sampaio Dam, Pentecoste Dam and Araras Dam, all of them in Ceará State. With the creation of

São Francisco Hydro-Electric Company (CHESF) and the establishment of a new policy

for the electrical sector, the power generation start to be considered exclusive to Eletrobrás and

DNOCS stopped using its dam´s turbines. However, CHESF continued using the waters from

Araras Reservoir, in Acaraú River, for hydroelectric generation, during peak hours, and used to

pay DNOCS for the amount of water released.

In that way, it can be said that even in the old water policy there was already charging for

bulk water in Ceará for hydro-electric generation purposes, a sector which very often used the

argument of not consuming water for not paying for its use.

The New Water Policy - The Last Quartile of 20th Century

The current water policy in Ceará State emphasizes the demand management, including

water right formalization, water charging, educational campaigns and decisions decentralization

through the incentive of users' participation in basin committees.

The water charging for municipal uses

The political process of charging bulk water uses in Ceará is attribution of the Secretariat of

Water Resources (SRH) through the Company of Water Management of the State (COGERH),

which has the competence to collect water taxes. Nowadays, COGERH has all its administrative

cost covered by water taxes.

13

In the side of treated water distribution , the service is provided by the State Water and

Sewerage Company of Ceará (CAGECE). Before the Water Resources State Law ( Law No.

11,996/92 ), CAGECE had the competence of managing reservoirs of water used for urban needs

- mainly in Fortaleza, the state’s capital. The bulk water costs were included into the treated

water costs and transferred to the users. After the cited Law, COGERH has keeping the

attribution of supplying bulk water to CAGECE. CAGECE treats and distributes it to the cities.

The administration of the reservoirs was transferred to COGERH and CAGECE starts paying one

cent of Real (half cent of dollar) for each cubic meter of water drew from reservoirs.

The water charging in the industrial sector

The water charging for the industrial sector in Ceará is very peculiar, as consequence of

the existent supply infrastructure and institutional topology. A great number of industries is

concentrated on the industrial district of Maracanaú. Those industries were attended by CAGECE

through two different systems: one for treated water and another for bulk water (for those

activities which chemical products used for treating water were harmful). The price charged for

both treated and bulk water was the same – RS$ 1.20 (US$ 0.60) for cubic meter. Some

industries had, as fiscal incentive, a reduction of 50% on the tariff.

By the new water policy of the State, the bulk water management is competence of

COGERH, but the water distribution system still belongs to CAGECE. An agreement was made

between these companies: the price of bulk water was unified in R$ 0.67 (US$ 0.34) for cubic

meter and CAGECE should pay R$ 0.30 (US$ 0.15) for cubic meter to COGERH.

The water charging in the agricultural sector

14

In spite of the price of bulk water for agricultural purposes has already been established by

law - R$ 0.67 (US$ 0.34) for cubic meter (the same as for industrial purposes) – it should be

expected great political and social resistance to the charging implementation in this sector. To

analyze the obstacles in the agricultural sector, one must separate the irrigators in two different

categories – those situated along the river and those inside public irrigation districts.

For the first category it must be reminded that there is not a tradition of charging irrigators

for the water diverted directly from the stream. The second category, however, have the

perception of already being paying for water, through the tax called “K2”. This tax - US$ 3 to 5

for 1,000 cubic meters - erroneous called “water bill” by the farmers, covers only the operation

and maintenance costs of the system.

It is also important to remind that charging effect may be annulled by other arrangements.

In public irrigation districts, the water (or energy) bills are not personal. They are unique for

whole project, rated equally among irrigators. Charging, in that situation, has little influence in

motivating changes on irrigation method or reallocation water to high-value crops. Obstacles on

selling the produce is another key factor for crops choice. If market access for high-value crops is

difficult, the safest option is low-valued subsistence cultures (rice, for instance), since they can be

consumed by the family in case they are not sold.

Mr. Pedro water charging case

An interesting case related to water charging in Ceará happened in Milhã – a small city in

the state’s central zone. The city’s water supply was made under the responsibility of the

National Foundation of Health (FNS), which drew water from a small reservoir in Mr. Pedro's

( fictitious name) property. In 1993, when the episode took place, the process of water charging

15

was already object of a wide and excited discussion, and very often it was analyzed and debated

by the local press.

In that context, Mr. Pedro had the perception of a new moment lived by society and decided

to charge FNS for drawing water from his reservoir. Mr. Pedro realized that his agriculture

production would be harmed if FNS continued getting water of its reservoir. Mr. Pedro had an

idea: to charge the water.

The process had an administrative solution in the ambit of Secretariat of Water Resources

and Mr. Pedro was paid for his ‘ceasing profits’. Technically speaking, he was not paid for the

water. But if semantic is forgotten, Mr. Pedro did receive money for giving permission to FNS to

draw water from its reservoir, and in this point of view, Mr. Pedro can be considered the herald of

the new policy of water charging in Ceará.

Water Market Backgrounds

Those who rule the river consider the water that gives life to an arid, seven-state region,

more a heritage or birthright than a commodity subject to the rough and tumble of the free

market (Brown Matthew, 1997). These words represent a cultural reaction of Society, or part of

it, to a new way of managing water. That could be said, for instance, in Northeast of Brazil, a

region subjected to recurrent droughts. In fact, that statement is related to those who live close to

Colorado River in the United States, where the water market implementation is quite known.

Those words, written by Brown, do not mean exactly what Plautus said. Likely, they

incorporate his same feelings, regarding to the love and the strong dependency to water. This

kind of feeling is still alive in Northeast of Brazil for the same reasons. In Ceará cultural context,

16

the implementation of a water market, for water allocation and reallocation, could be done only

after a careful analysis and evaluation of its social impacts.

Water Market in Ceará

In the past 25 years, the search of a water administration model which could drive both

efficiency and environmental preservation has been the biggest challenge faced by man. The

water was recognized as a scarce resource on a global scaled and endowed with economic value.

As a natural resource, the water should be allocated by efficient techniques. Techniques

developed in Economy Science field penetrated the Water Resources field, an engineer’s domain.

Economists became important professionals in water allocation studies. The extremes in

economic field - market and centralized planning - started to have a great influence on water

allocation models development.

The water management in Ceará State, focus of the present article, was also strongly

influenced by new water resources’ paradigms. From 1988 to 1990 the Water Resources

Department developed Water Resources State Plan, in which a new philosophy of water policy

was inserted. The Plan designed a new institutional framework, which has being implemented

since 1992. In many aspects the history of water management in Northeast Brazil is similar to the

history of the West of United States. The influence can be felt. It has been discussed some water

allocation models for Ceará State – the water market is one of them.

Motivations and Prerequisites for the Water Markets

Technically, the water market is a water allocation and reallocation instrument to provide

an improvement over existent policies – especially with regard to water use efficiency. In

17

practical terms, the negotiated commodity would be the right of using water: it would be

transferred from the seller - who owns the water title - to the buyer - who would pass to the

condition of titular. In terms of time, the transaction could be permanent or limited to a certain

period of time. In terms of space, the application of this model could be limited to a country, a

state, a watershed or even to very a specific area, depending on cultural and legal constrains, and

also on the available structures for transferring waters.

The water allocation by market devices can be justified on supposition that it drives to a

more efficient water use. The water market’s premises are the same as any regular market. The

model supposes that a user - who can promote a more efficient water use - is motivated to pay for

the water right of another user - who makes less efficient use of his right. The maximum value

which potential buyer would be willing to pay should be limited to the incremental value of its

profits, using the additional water. On the other hand, the minimum price that would be

acceptable by the seller should be limited to the value that he did not gain by selling the water

(Lanna 1994).

There are some necessary conditions for considering water right a regular commercial

commodity. Simpson (1993) presents six prerequisites that he considers desirable for the

establishment of water markets:

There must be a definable product – This product must be capable of being

controlled, measured and treated as a commercial commodity;

There must be a demand for the product, which exceeds the supply;

The product must be capable of being provided when needed;

18

The product must have sufficient mobility to be transferred from the place of

excess supply to the location of the demand during the time of shortage;

There must be an acceptance by the society.

There must exist some mechanism of administration and regulation to assure

fairness and equity

Simpson (op.cit.) does not defend the rigorous and total attendance of the six prerequisites

above as an indispensable condition for a market establishment. However, he argues that a most

complete attendance to these requirements implies in a better operation of the its mechanisms.

Difficulties for a State Wide Water Market

Under the water allocation point of view, the adoption of the water market model in the

Northeast Semi-Arid, or in Brazil, would hardly pass on the six prerequisites test.

If the understanding of the water appear phenomenon is complex in Hydrology, the

understanding of the right of its use is equally complex in law and in popular habits. Several

prerequisites would be seriously endangered. It is very difficult for the society to have a

perception of water being a regular market good.

The charging for bulk water, very well understood by water resources technicians, has

some difficulties to be accepted by society and law. Several examples of these difficulties were

observed in Ceará in the past few years. On the other hand the water market still doesn’t have the

acceptation of the majority of the water resources technicians and is very far from being

understood by society in general.

19

An analysis of the evolution on the water administration process in the State shows the

not fulfillment of some prerequisites:

Hydrological Drought of 1988 – On the water transferring from Jaguaribe River to

‘Canal do Trabalhador’, the discharge diverted from Orós Dam was very superior to the

necessary. Several not identified users, increased significantly their consumption as they

noticed that the river was more torrential. This event shows that, generally speaking, even

water being understood was a well-defined product, it is not still passible of being

controlled and measured in whole State, with the current structures. Prerequisite number

one is not fulfilled.

In Semi-Arid, a region with a high inter-annual and seasonal variability on its

discharges, water demand is usually larger than water supply. Inside limits of time and

amount, which are difficult to quantify, the product ‘water’ could be delivered. In general

sense there are some structures which allow water mobility, though quite limited. In that

way, prerequisites number two and number three would be partly fulfilled.

The society did not accept the charging for bulk water yet and is very far from

accepting water markets. Even in the technical environment, the authors' experience is

that the great majority still has a great resistance to a widespread water market. That

society non-acceptance, by itself, can be considered a very strong obstacle to a

widespread water markets implementation in Ceará.

A Water Market Limited in Space and in Time

It was recently created in Ceará a new secretariat, which is in charge of organizing the

irrigated agriculture in the state territory – the Secretariat of Irrigated Agriculture (SEAGRI). Its

20

main input is water. SEAGRI is building a water use policy based, among other factors, on

demand management. The application of a water market inside restricted areas of SEAGRI´s

competence is being analyzed.

Both limits in space and in time, for that model application, are now searched. This new

experience may represent one more step towards an efficient water allocation model.

Regarding to space, it should be analyzed the current organization of irrigation districts,

and from that knowledge, seek for limits of water market model applications. The organization of

water delivery in those areas is made by a plan, according to the adopted irrigation technology.

In the case of irrigation by gravity the process of ‘turns’ - scheduling water deliveries - to

individual farms is used. Control mechanisms such as Neyrpic modules and constant level gates

make the water administration. In sprinkler irrigation, the water distribution is made under

pressure, and other control mechanisms such as gate valves are available.

No matter the irrigation technique adopted by irrigation districts, there are always

administrative and hydraulics structures to measure and control the amount of water delivered.

Hence, inside an irrigation district, the water is a very defined product, which can be

controlled, measured and traded as a commercial commodity. The prerequisite

number one is fulfilled.

According to the Water Permit Decree (Decree No.23,067 from February 11, 1994), the

maximum volume that should be allocated from a reservoir is 90% of its yield, with reliability of

90%. At deficit periods the demand is partly attended. Then it should have a negotiation among

users, or a Government decision, establishing quotas of water for several users in the watershed.

21

It has been a practice in the new way of managing water in Ceará, to make yearly

meetings, after the wet season when the water stock for next six months is defined. The reservoir

operation for rest of the year is decided. These meetings are organized by COGERH. In years of

deficit the water availability are rated among users obeying priority uses defined by law. At the

end of the negotiation they reach the following condition:

In normal years the irrigation district receives an amount of water, compatible to its

needs, equal to ‘x’. In dry years, this district receives only ‘k.x’, ‘k’ being smaller than

one, however its demands are still ‘x’. Therefore there is a product – water – whose

demand is greater than its offer. The prerequisite number two is fulfilled.

In normal years it is supposed that there is a planning for choosing crops to cultivate. It is

also supposed that the process is not authoritarian and the irrigators’ wills are respected. In that

way, some irrigators should choose temporary crops, which need smaller initial investments,

otherwise having smaller economic value in their commercialization. Others, on the other hand,

should choose perennial crops, with significant initial investments and larger economic values.

The diversity of cultures and behavior surely will drive, in a certain moment and depending on

the market needs for agricultural products, that a given crop be more sought than another one, in

that moment. The farmers with more adapted hydraulic and agricultural structure for that market

scenario, surely will accept to stop producing their low value crops and allow other irrigators to

use the volume of water that would be destined to them. With some financial compensation, of

course.

22

In those circumstances, in the necessary moment - critical periods of supply - the

product ‘water’ is capable of being provided to the ‘buyer user’, once it is no more

demanded by the ‘seller user’. The prerequisite number three is fulfilled.

Inside the space limit analyzed, the water delivered by COGERH arrives to a reception

point (pump station). Up to that point the water is distributed by district’s distribution system.

The pipelines and channels are dimensioned for demand pick of the respective irrigation section.

The water, that stops being supplied to ‘seller user’, can be delivered to ‘buyer user’

through the existent hydraulic infrastructure. In those circumstances, the product

‘water’ has enough mobility to be transferred from the excess place (where it stopped

being necessary) to the place of shortage. The prerequisite number four is fulfilled.

Once the irrigation districts comprise a relatively small number of persons, sharing the

same needs and feelings, it is not expected a negative reaction to that reallocation mechanism in

critical periods. Even because each transaction only happens by participants' will. It is not

expected also any juridical obstacles, once the transactions are made inside the district, and could

be faced as an administrative decision.

It is expected by the society, in which the market would be settled, the acceptance to

the model and the perception that it only happens in their interest and by their only

willingness. The prerequisite number five is fulfilled.

The district’s administrative structure should simply be notified of the transaction and

make the arrangements to the water be delivered to the ‘buyer user’ .

23

In that context, the existent administrative mechanisms are enough to assure justice

and transactions fairness in the proposed model. The prerequisite number six is

fulfilled.

The proposed market should be considered limited. On the other hand, it can be

understood as a careful way of searching an efficient water allocation mechanism in Ceará. If we

are not sure that the road will drive us to a good port, why should we hurry?

An Successfully Experience in South of Ceará

The Cariri Region is situated in the southeast of the state of Ceará. There was established

there, since 1854, a very peculiar process of water allocation between private owners. A complete

description of this process is presented by Kemper at. al.(1999), in a World Bank document.

Hydrological Aspects

The area is located at the bottom Araripe Plateau, which has an altitude of about 1,000m.

The upper part consists of a permeable sandstone layer – the Exu System, which meets the

second layer – the Santana System, an impermeable rocky layer, at an altitude of about 700m.

The superior part of the rocky layer has a slight inclination to the north direction. The water

reappears in form of springs. From the total of 307 springs, 256 appear in Ceará, 43 in

Pernambuco and 8 in Piauí. Batateira Spring is the most important source, both in yield and in the

way its users manage its water. The Batateira Spring forms Batateira River, a tributary of Salgado

River, an affluent of Jaguaribe River.

The discharges are still measured in an old portuguese discharge unit called ‘telha’, which

can be described as a tube with a diameter of 18 cm with an inclination of 1:1,000. One ‘telha’

24

corresponds to 64.8 m3/hour (Kemper at. al, 1999). In the year of 1854 the average discharge of

Batateira Spring was estimated in 23 ‘telhas’, in 1999, it was estimated in only 5 ‘telhas’, a

substantial reduction.

Some water allocation aspects

In the 19th Century, when Cariri was a prosperous sugarcane growing region, the farmers

decided to allocate a certain amount of water from Batateira Spring to each farm, in order to

avoid possible conflicts over water using. A formal contract was signed in 1854, dividing 22

‘telhas’ among themselves and leaving 1 ‘telha’ to keep the minimum river flow.

There was established in the rules the possibility of: 1) selling the right in permanent

character 2) selling the right for a certain time and for certain volume; 3) In case of discharge

decreasing the loss of rights would happen from downstream users to upstream users. In the

following one hundred years the process was peacefully developed, without big conflicts.

An example of water selling, for limited time, happened in 1925, when a farmer sold the

right of using 3 ‘telhas’ for 58 hours, every second week of the months, for the value of 2,000

´rapadura’ (a sugarcane product) loads.

According to Kemper at. al. (1999) there was just one case of judicial demand in which a

farmer tried to recover his rights. The case was judged based on 1854 agreement rules.

Similarities among Cariri’s Model and the Proposed Irrigation District Model

The experience of Cariri refers to a restricted area provisioned by a very defined and

measurable discharge. The group involved in the negotiation is relatively small and they made an

agreement with simple rules easy to manage and control. 25

The main difference is the possibility of a permanent transference of the water right in

Cariri Region. The Irrigation Law for sure represents an impediment for permanent sales from

individual irrigators to agro-industries companies in irrigation districts.

Conclusions

The way a Society manages water quality reflects the political, cultural and economic

processes that takes places within the society. This wise statement written by Perry and

Vanderklein (1996), in some way, was very present in this Article. It was shown that different

societies, in different times, manages the water in a particular manner. In the past, as in present,

in some conditions bulk water is charged, in other conditions, it isn’t. .

Some lessons and recommendations could be drawn from this Historical search the Water

Administration in Brazil. They are presented organized in topics.

Regarding charging bulk water

The process of charging bulk water, as an economic good, is in its very beginning in Brazil.

The new Brazilian Water Policy, based in the Sustainable Development paradigm, has only two

years of implementation. Most of the articles of the Law are still only in the paper. The

implementation process is going on and still needs a lot of institutional reformulation. During this

process there are a lot to learn and also a lot teach about water management.

In Brazil, the charging of bulk water has been conceived mainly with economical

objectives. In the Brazilian Law, two objectives of charging water are related to economic

motivations and just one to financial motivation. In Ceará State (Brazil), the funds collected from

26

water taxes, has been applied in Cogerh, agency that manages the water in the state. That agency

has improved the way of manage water and has reached more efficiency of water use in the state.

Therefore, even though charging water has been used in a financial approach, it has being,

indirectly, an instrument of rational use . This shows the relevance of economic instrument in the

water management process.

Regarding to water market

The water market, as an economical instrument for water allocation and reallocation of

widespread application, has found oppositions mainly in the cultural aspects of societies. In

Northeast of Brazil, a Region with severe water scarcity, this opposition is particularly

reasonable. And there are not evidences yet that this situation would change in a near future. It

would be necessary cultural changes, and this takes some time.

However, in 1854, in that same place, in a bounded portion of land, a small group of

farmers made an agreement among themselves to share a limited amount of water for irrigation

purposes. That agreement, still working, has rules similar to water market ones. This shows that,

even in a very similar cultural context, some situations can result in a very specific response

regarding to water management. It is important to study, in a multidisciplinary vision, the real

motivations of that response.

Policy recommendations

Along the space, the society can learn from other societies’ success and failures. Along the

time, the modern society can learn from past societies. Some adaptation is always necessary. It

won't be the success of a given management instrument in other part of the world that should

27

impose its generalized application in any environment. On the other hand, the application of a

given management instrument, which obtained success in other society, should not be discarded

by the simple fact that the success had happened in another part of the world, and in another

culture.

In this search for a new paradigm, there is a pendulum: the concentrated planning in the

State, in one side, and the utopia of the market as a panacea for all the socioeconomic evils, on

the other side. The wisdom is in the middle.

Then, it would be necessary to establish the applicability limits of each water management

tool, respecting local cultural, historical and political values. Water management is strongly

connected to culture, and culture changes slowly.

A special care must be taken in implementing the water charging. It should be avoided to

transmit to Society the idea that charging is just another way to fundraising and not a way to

improve the efficiency on water use.

Acknowledgements

The authors thanks to Professor Vicente Vieira for his helpful comments. Thanks are also

extended to FINEP, for the funds to support the research and to coordinators of Projeto RECOPE,

Professor Fazal Chaudhry and Professor Eduardo Lanna.

About the Authors

Dr. Nilson Campos is professor at the Hydraulic and Environmental Engineer Department

at Universidade Federal do Ceará. He has been working with water resources management in the

Semi-Arid environment of Brazilian’s Northeast for 30 years. Ticiana Studart is professor at the 28

Hydraulic and Environmental Engineer Department at Universidade Federal do Ceará and is now

completing her doctorate at that institution in water resources management. The authors can be

reached at nilson@ufc.br and ticiana@ufc.br.

References

Brown, M. Free market won’t come easily to Colorado River. The Chieftain, Pueblo, Colo., May

28, 1997. Page 3b.

Caponera, Dante A. Principles of Water Law and Administration. A.A. Balkema Publishers.

Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1992.

Easter, K.W. and Hearne, R. Water Markets and Decentralized Water Resources Management:

International Problems and Opportunities. Water Resources Bulletin, v.31, nº1, February,

1995.

Frontinus VI, J. De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae. English Translation by Charles (Aqueducts of

Rome). Loebs Classical Library Havard University Cambridge.MA. Press Reprint, 1997

Kemper, K. Gonçalves, J.Y.B. and Bezerra, F.W.B. Water Allocation and Trading in the Cariri

Region – Ceará, Brazil. World Bank Technical Paper n. 427. Washington D.C., 1999.

Kemper, K. E. – The Cost of Free Water- Water Resources Allocation and Use in the Curu

Valley, Northeast Brazil. Linkoping, 1996

Lanciani R. Topografia di Roma Antica: I commentarii di Frontino intorno alle acque e gli

acquedotti. In: Arti dell Accademia dei Lincei. Série 3a ,Vol. IV. Rome, 1880.

29

Lanna, A.E.L. Cobrança e Mercados de Água como Instrumentos de Gerenciamento dos

Recursos Hídricos no Semi-Árido do Nordeste Brasileiro. In: II Simpósio de Recursos

Hídricos do Nordeste. Fortaleza, 1994.

Perry, J. and Vanderklein, E. Water Quality:Management of a Natural Resource.Blackwell

Science. Massachussetts, 1996. 639 p.

Ribeiro, M.M.R, Lanna, A.E.L. and Pereira, J.S.. Elasticidade-Preço da Demanda e a Cobrança

pelo Uso da Água In: XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Recursos Hídricos. Belo Horizonte, 1999.

Simpsom, L. Factors Prerequisite to Market-Based Transfers of Water. Not published paper.

World Bank, 1993.

Winpenny, J. Managing Water as an Economic Resource. Routledge. London, 1994.

30