The mismatches in scale between the water management agencies and the Cantareira system in Brazil

Sao Paulo is currently facing the severest drought in 80 years, with supply interruptions in the metropolitan area, rationing and dwindling water reserves. Since my last post 3 week ago precipitation have increased a little bit in the region. In November it rained around 135 mm in the Cantareira region (in October it rained 42,5 mm), but still a bit under the annual month average of 161 mm, becoming the tenth month below the average during the year. It is the eighth consecutive month with rainfall lower than expected.

Although this post is not only about the lack of rain, instead, I will here mainly discuss the scale mismatches between the water management agencies and the Cantareira system as an important factor to understand this crises. Cumming et al stated already in 2006 that scale mismatches result from changes in either the scale of environmental variation, the scale of the social organization responsible for management, or both. In other words, they can arise from the internal dynamics of social and ecological systems respectively, or from the dynamics of the social-ecological interaction. As we can see in this case the social system (Sao Paulo) is experiencing water disruptions. People and industries are complaining about lack of water supply and bad quality of water. On the other side, precipitation and rain levels are showing anomalies, not filling up the water levels of the Cantareira system. So which are the mismatches leading to this?

The first mismatch 

Sabesp supplying fossil fuel to pump out
water from one reservoir to another

Sao Paulos water management infrastructure, plans and solutions are old and insufficient to the efforts that are now needed. Sabesp have largely focused on smaller scales (in and around Sao Paulo), trying to control specific input and output variables of surface water, rather than focusing on the entire precipitation and consumption system that stretch far away from its jurisdictionary approach.

The second mismatch 

Precipitation levels in the region have always been cyclical, not linear, and disturbance has been an important part of development of the regions biophysical system. The Cantareira System was supposed to handle this by a series of different reservoirs located in different regions, supplying each other in time of crises. However, with the increase in the scale of consumption and environmental variation, Sao Paulos water management simple cannot take into account disturbance anymore. 

The third mismatch 

The state and the federal agencies have been the major actors involved so far, constantly exchanging and debating of what should be done, and releasing accusations over what have not been done. This approach, with no actually platform for dialogue with other stakeholders, such as rural producers and NGOs that work more directly on the field, is a sever mismatch that needs to be resolved.

Concluding, the scale mismatches is part of a broader problem of developing flexible learning institutions that can change and adapt to a changing environment. This is something that is not happening in Sao Paulo. Water management institutions have not show any signals that they what to change their approach on the crises. The Federal National Water Agency (ANA) recently gave Sabesp the authorisation to withdraw further 30 million cubic meters (m³) of water from the Cantareira system technical reserve (which I talked about in my last post). ANA also pointed out that Sabesp will use a "conservative forecasts of stream flow" which will let the system to reach 97.4 million cubic meters in April 30, 2015. We'll, lets see what happens when we meet that date!

Source: Cumming, G. S., D. H. M. Cumming, and C. L. Redman. 2006. Scale mismatches in social-ecological systems: causes, consequences, and solutions . Ecology and Society 11(1): 14. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art14/