The Ecological Efficiency and Funding Performance from Water Charges: the Experience from São Paulo State, Brazil

São Paulo’s state is considered a reference of hydric resources management in Brazil, becoming the pioneer on adopting a system based on the decentralized french model of basin committees, whom would become generalized... [ view full abstract ]

São Paulo’s state is considered a reference of hydric resources management in Brazil, becoming the pioneer on adopting a system based on the decentralized french model of basin committees, whom would become generalized across the country at the end of the 1990s decade. One of the main economic instruments from this system, collaborating with it’s funding and at the same time stimulating the rational use of the water, is the charge for the use of hydric resources. It’s based on a mix from the polluter pay principle and the user pay principle, using differentiated values depending of the kind of use of the resources. This article valuate the impacts from the implementation of this charge on the first three hydrographic basins that adopted it (all located at industrial areas) on São Paulo, who went through a severe period of hydric crisis between 2013 and 2015, highlighting the non prepare for the situation and leading to critics to the politics and instruments adopted until that time. First, is made a bibliographic revision on the theoretical fundaments behind the charge and a short bibliographic revision on the Brazilian and Paulista law of hydric resources, besides some examples of international cases of implementation. Then is made an evaluation of the additional funding that the charge brought to the basin committees and its ecologic efficiency between 2007 and 2015. The used data come from the annual basin committee reports and from the Agência Nacional de Águas. The indicators constructed with the data are about the variability of the funding at the period, the funding differences from each basin and the difference between the charged and the funded values, which affects the financial capacity of public investments. The ecological efficiency indicators show the variations from the Índice de Qualidade de Água (IQA), a synthetic index, composed by many parameters such as dissolved oxygen and water turbidity, offering a general point of view about the water quality. The results about funding show a substantial increase of resources for the basin committees, generally stabilizing after some years with very few variations. During the first years is also normal to have a major difference between what is charged and what is funded, because regional administration gives exemptions and other advantages to the companies in order to give them more time to incorporate the new costs on their operations. The ecological efficiency results show there is a constant increase of the water quality, however this can’t just be attributed to this instrument and the actuation of regional committees, but also to state and federal legislation changes and productive process innovations. The article concludes that the use of water changes is positive to the hydrographic basins that adopt it, but that is necessary a policy mix to constantly improve results. The correct management of hydric resources at areas with irregular rain regimes is vital to assure inclusive sustainability and economic development is only possible where there is a safe water management to both the population and the productive sectors.