Sustainability assessment in water planning: a case study in the Billings reservoir basin

Abstract

Basins of interest for public water supply can be defined as Water Source Protection and Recovery Areas (APRM, in the Portuguese acronym) in São Paulo state, Brazil. These areas must have specific instruments for environmental management, such as the Development and Environmental Protection Plan (PDPA, Portuguese acronym), which must diagnose problems and propose actions to protect, recover, and preserve springs and must be included in basin plans. The Billings Reservoir Basin was defined as an APRM in 2009; its first PDPA was published in 2010, and the second in 2017. The role of these plans is underexplored in the scientific literature, and sustainability assessment is an interesting approach to subsidize discussions about the scope of these plans. In this paper, we present a sustainability assessment of the PDPA-Billings, identifying strengths and weaknesses in the context of one of the municipalities of Billings Basin - São Bernardo do Campo (SP). As a method, a case study was developed, with literature and document review and interviews, guided by a set of eight sustainability assessment criteria. The result was a table containing 51 questions on 24 themes. One of the relevant positive results is the identification of the PDPA as a central instrument for sectorial integration, especially between water and land use planning. As potential issues for improvement, we indicate the possibility of better exploring the multiple uses of water, deepening the theme of water security from the climate change perspective, and an opportunity for PDPA to contribute with regional development strategies, seeking to influence and support decisions about water in the future of the regional economy. The evidence also indicates low control and deficient implementation of the proposed actions, so it would be essential to review the governance arrangements.