Comitês de bacia hidrográfica do Estado do Rio de Janeiro: avanços e dificuldades na gestão das águas.

Abstract

A new Constitution was established at the end of the 1980s, allowing civil society to take part actively in decision-making in several areas, such as the one of water resources, through representatives from specific social segments. In the context of participatory management of water resources, Rio de Janeiro State has set up its Water Resources State Policy, through the Law n3.239, in 1999, and created the State System of Water Management. According to the policy established by the Law of Waters, nine committees were created, one for each river basin. This study analyzes the river basin committees as to their performance, through a qualitative research which was conducted with their members. The methodology applied was based on the highly esteemed study of the Watermark Project. Each committee member was given an online questionnaire in the Survey platform. The total amount of answers collected was of 112. From the results, the conclusion was that the committees in Rio de Janeiro are experiencing a moment of progress and that the management measures have demonstrated satisfactory results.