Preface

The Brazilian water resources community has much to celebrate on the World Day of Water. For over ten years now, concrete actions carried out by all sectors of the water resources community have made Brazil stand out on the international scene because of its pioneer work in changing laws and introducing modern forms of water management into daily life.

Looking back we can see the incredible progress achieved since the first discussions about change in this sector, from the inclusion of the National Water Resources Management System in the 1988 Constitution, up to the enactment of Law 9,433, on January 8, 1997, which established the National Water Resources Management System. Recently, in July 2000, the system gained in agility with the approval of the creation of the National Water Agency (ANA). Water definitely has become part of the Brazilian political agenda.

It should be emphasized that the system was designed to be decentralized, integrated and, above all, participatory. Catchment committees, with representatives of government sectors, experts, users and civil society have been created. That is what legitimates the system and provides the strength to sustain it.

These are the reasons that led to this book. We must record the history of this participatory process that culminated in modernizing the water resources sector and that will ensure the sustainability of water as a resource for future generations. This is the history of the evolution of the Brazilian water resources system up until the creation of the National Water Agency (ANA) , together with a description of the huge challenges still being faced.

These challenges are included in this overview of the hydrographic basins of Brazil and a future of ever growing demand and worrisome environmental degradation.
It was these findings that made the water resources management system evolve significantly throughout the last few years to the creation of the innovative, modern institution called the National Water Agency (ANA). But evolution does not stop there, it is necessary that the participatory process, with discussion and integration among the government, the technical sectors and users, maintains channels of discussion open, because that is the only way we will continue to evolve.

Much remains to be done. In order to face a task of such great magnitude, we may seek inspiration in the words of Flávio Terra Barth, when he wisely said that the implementation of water resources management should be viewed as a gradual, progressive political process, going forward in stages, offering improvements while respecting the peculiarities of each catchment or region in Brazil.

Board of Directors