A gestão de uso das águas nas bacias hidrográficas de passo fundo/rs: considerações acerca da atuação dos atores sociais

Abstract

The field of study of this research covers the municipality of Passo Fundo, northern Rio Grande do Sul State, with an estimated population of 203,275 inhabitants. In this context, Passo Fundo River Basin was analyzed, contemplating a complex and constantly moving scenario, which changes according to the water resource management policy. It starts with the use and conservation of water and the environment over the years, initially impacted by the economic industrialization process in the region, as well as addressing the creation of basin committees through State Law Decree No. 32,774/88, comprising government members, ecological groups, universities, business entities, city halls and other civil society organizations. Additionally, in line with this objective, the institution of the National Water Resources Policy (Law No. 9,433/97) by the federal government is addressed, with the participation of civil society and water users, its reference being responsible for triggering an evolution of legalization of water use in all spheres of national relevance, such as river basins. A discussion promoted by this research involves, therefore, the management of water use in the municipality of Passo Fundo, in order to observe what are the actions of conservation and use of water regarding the exercise of citizenship and urban risks problems. A contextualization of the social structure will be carried out, given the technological changes caused by the process of industrialization of social and economic materials, intensely modifying the market due to the acceleration in the automation of industrial processes, as well as the aspects that have consolidated capitalism, with the development of the risk society, exploring the concepts of risk, danger, safety and reflexivity. At the same time, water management in Brazil is comprised, with emphasis on the management bodies responsible for planning and promoting actions aimed at conserving the quantity and quality of water, as well as identifying the sectors that use water most, making it possible to establish a correlation with the proposal to include the right to water as a fundamental right in the Federal Constitution of Brazil, discussed in the National Congress through the Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC 4/2018). In the same way, the socioeconomic and socio-environmental implications in the scope of water are illustrated. The research, thus, reaches current and future perspectives, analyzing records of the Basin Committee of Passo Fundo, glimpsing the management, the effects of modernity and the risks through interviews and the application of questionnaires with the main social actors, regarding the actions carried out and the possible strategies for the benefit of the basin.