Potencial econômico de mercados de água: estudo de caso na bacia do rio São Marcos

Abstract

The instruments of the National Water Resources Policy do not prove adequate in managing water when it is scarce. The allocation of water, through permits, does not take efficiency criteria into account. At the same time, the water charge does not meet at least two of its goals: it does not indicate the real value of water and does not encourage its rational use. Also, there are no instruments that make it possible to reallocate water, which therefore ends up confining it to its initial uses, which are often inefficient. An opportunity is identified for the inclusion of water markets as an additional instrument that may be able to promote the efficient allocation or reallocation of water. This dissertation aims to verify the gains of exploring water markets in terms of economic benefits. The São Marcos River Basin was selected for a case study. The basin has been the stage of a water conflict between irrigators and the electricity sector for about a decade. Irrigated agriculture is the sector that values water the most the majority of the time. Nevertheless, its growth is limited by water unavailability. This dissertation simulates what the economic gain would have been if agriculture in the region could have expanded via water markets and if, in periods when the electricity sector revealed a greater willingness to pay for water (as in 2014), it had been reallocated to its benefit. The conclusion is that water markets would have resulted in higher income for the country and helped to reconcile the demand for water in the basin.