Towards the Adoption of a Priority-Based Water Rights System in Brazil

Brazil is experiencing a continuous increase in water demand, putting pressure on decision-makers on how to allocate new water rights requests. Brazil’s water rights administration used to be based on the definition of a maximum allocatable streamflow, equivalent to a high-duration flow. While providing for low-risk rights for existing users, this procedure ultimately prevented new users to obtain water rights in several river basins. We are implementing a priority-based system, inspired by the prior appropriation doctrine of western US, allowing new users to be authorized in rivers where the original allocatable streamflow is used up, if they accept a higher risk water use permit. Instead of limiting water rights on paper, curtailments will only be in place when the demand of higher priority users cannot be met by current river flow. Legal priorities, as well as environmental concerns, are taken into account. The proposal is anchored in a bottom-up process, involving local stakeholders and decision-makers.