WHEN RESERVOIRS RUN DRY: DROUGHT AND THE STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE STATE OF CEARÁ IN RESPONSE TO THE RISK OF MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY COLLAPSE (2012–2018)

Abstract

This article analyzes the actions undertaken by the Government of the State of Ceará through the Integrated Committee to Combat Drought, created in 2012, and the Contingency Group, established in 2015, in response to the “water crisis” triggered by the drought. The study examines the strategies designed to prevent water supply collapse in municipal urban centers when the state’s main reservoirs dried up or experienced drastic reductions in water storage, drawing on the perspectives of technicians and managers from state institutions involved in water governance. The drought, which persisted mainly between 2012 and 2018, is regarded as one of the longest-lasting drought events ever recorded in Brazil’s semiarid Northeast, producing severe impacts on water supply in both urban areas and rural communities. This situation called into question the main technical “solution” historically devised by the State to cope with conditions of water scarcity in the semiarid region: reservoirs. The study is based on remote interviews conducted between April and June 2021 with members of the Committee and the Contingency Group, as well as documentary research involving newspapers and official documents. The interviewees reveal the multidimensional nature of drought representations and a broad range of technical and technological initiatives mobilized to address the void created by the “collapse” of reservoirs, many of them small-scale technologies, such as wells, public standpipes, and cisterns.