The Global Risks Report (2016) signals on a global scale that the risks with the greatest potential impact over a ten-year horizon are associated with the failure to precisely attenuate the water crisis and climate change. Therefore, the global water crisis, defined as a crisis of water governance, is one of the most important issues currently related to social transformation towards sustainability. Despite being a recent research topic, it is already possible to consult a wide range of academic documentation, with approaches ranging from studies that highlight definitions and characteristics, different scales, actors involved, to the relationship between water governance and climate change. This paper concentrates, in a theme with few contributions, on the application of measurement and evaluation methods based on the principles of good governance. Thus, the main objective of this research was to analyze and identify the strong and weak dimensions in the planning of corrective actions in relation to good water governance. For this purpose, the State System of Management of Water Resources of the State of Goiás was used as a case study. With a hydrography considered among the richest in Brazil, and a significant reserve of groundwater, Goiás becomes one of the most important states regarding the management of water resources in relation to its influence in the national territory. To evaluate water governance in the State System of Water Resources of Goiás, adaptations were made in two tools: The Water Governance Thermometer and Water Governance Barometer. It was evidenced that the dimensions of State Capacity, Management Instruments and State-Society Interaction need greater attention in relation to the water governance process related to aspects such as the composition of the work team, access to and use of available financial resources, the organization and functioning of management bodies and the participation of society in decision-making processes. Its main deficiencies are in compliance with principles such as accountability, efficiency and effectiveness, integration, transparency, coherence and participation. The Institutional Environment dimension, related to the effectiveness of legislation, was identified as the strongest in water governance; because it creates and regulates the management bodies of the State System of Water Resources, guaranteeing its legitimacy. Finally, it is concluded that the transfer of the decision-making power of the State for watershed’s scale did not happen, a fact that still imposes a centralized and non-participatory management model, in contrast to that advocated in the state water resources policy. The reproduction of this assessment in different realities, and the organization of a database and a system of indicators, can contribute to a conceptual model and methodological guidelines necessary for both the evaluation stage of the process and the institutions, as well as in the implementation phase of water governance.
Water Governance; Water Resources Management; State System of Water Resources; Water Governance Indicators; Brazil
6d. Water and sanitation
