Living with the semi-arid region

The Caatinga's climate is semiarid, which directly influences the region's water availability. This climate type is characterized by low humidity and irregular rainfall, with long periods of scarce rainfall—which can last up to eight or nine months. This characteristic influences the rivers, which are mostly intermittent and dry up at certain times, impacting the environment and its people in unique ways. The main perennial rivers in the Caatinga are the São Francisco and Parnaíba.

Droughts have always occurred in the Northeast; however, they have become more severe for populations, making them more vulnerable, as landscape modifications have been made with the establishment of farms and deforestation for agriculture. Throughout history, long periods of drought have been responsible for decimating populations and countless animals, and promoting rural exoduses.

Since 1859, there have been records of Brazilian government interventions to address these issues.¹ Following the extensive drought of 1877–1879, recommendations included the construction of dams (which would serve to store water, making it available during dry years) and the transfer of the São Francisco River to temporary basins in Ceará. This river, known as the Velho Chico, originates in Minas Gerais, but 80% of its waters are in the Caatinga. Known as one of Brazil's most important rivers, it is the region's most important waterway.

Implementing recommendations made in the 19th century, the first large reservoir was completed in 1906, a strategy that was replicated over the years in various states. Reservoirs then established themselves as a necessary infrastructure for the population to have access to water, facing the reality of droughts and intermittent rivers. Currently, 70.000 reservoirs² have been built in the Semiarid region (by federal, state, and municipal governments, private entities, and cooperatives), making it the region with the largest number of such reservoirs on the planet. They hold approximately 37 billion cubic meters of water, a third of what the São Francisco River discharges annually into the Atlantic.

The other recommendation—the transposition of the São Francisco River—remains a controversial topic. Begun in 2007, the transposition project aims to direct river water to reservoirs in Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, and Paraíba. According to Agência Brasil, by 2019, investments in this project had already totaled R$1,4 billion³. The largest water project ever undertaken by the Brazilian government was scheduled to open in 2012, postponed until 2016, and has yet to be completed.⁴ It is estimated that with the completed project, 12 million people will benefit from regular access to water.

Some of these policies, however, are an expression of what has come to be called the "drought industry." Drought is seen as something to be combated, and responses are limited to the construction of large-scale projects that ultimately benefit the wealthy minority at the expense of the poorer majority.⁵ This "industry" contributed to an increase in the concentration of land and water by large landowners, leading to hunger and poverty. Many wells and dams were built on private property, which led to this association between land concentration and water concentration. Therefore, the measures were palliative and focused solely on increasing water availability, without considering the socio-structural context of the semiarid region. The drought agenda was always framed as a result of natural aspects of the region's climate, leaving the true causes undiscussed.⁶

It's certainly a combination of factors that exacerbates the drought. While there's high insolation and high evaporation rates, there's also low rainfall and soils with virtually impermeable rocks—which prevent natural water storage.⁶ In other words, when it rains, most of it evaporates instead of infiltrating the soil. For this reason, reservoirs allow for the use of uninfiltrated water, making it available for use for a longer period of time. However, reservoir water alone is often insufficient to ensure a full supply of water to everyone. Therefore, it's necessary to adopt other measures to ensure a healthy coexistence with the semiarid region.

The aforementioned term emerged to conceptualize that, yes, living with the Semiarid region is possible, as drought cannot be combated; it is inherent to that region. A development proposal based on the viability of living in this reality, with residents entitled to effective economic, human, environmental, cultural, scientific, and technological development policies to address this reality, is needed. In other words, the Semiarid region is viable when there is individual, collective, and political will to do so. According to the Semiarid Declaration⁷, measures must be taken, such as: enabling coexistence with droughts; directing investments toward sustainability; strengthening civil society; including women and youth in the development process; conserving, rehabilitating, and managing natural resources; and seeking adequate financing.

The declaration also recommends some measures for coexistence, such as strengthening family farming, expanding the use of technologies and methodologies adapted to the Semiarid region, and universalizing water supply. In practice, it is necessary to provide means of storing water and producing/storing food, including for animals, to meet needs year-round and enable the food and nutritional sovereignty and security of communities. To achieve this, it is important to consider how every drop of available water can be harnessed, with rainwater harvesting and storage; water reuse; reducing losses and waste; planting less water-demanding crops; raising more drought-resistant animals; utilizing efficient irrigation methods; social technologies such as small dams, underground dams, cisterns (there are several types, such as sidewalks, Padre Cícero's hat, and Enxurrada), and many other practices.

Nowadays, when traveling through the Sertão, it's common to see simple homes with water storage cisterns. This is primarily a result of the One Million Cisterns Program (P1MC)⁸, an initiative of the Brazilian Semi-Arid Articulation (ASA) launched in the early 2000s. Its goal is to promote access to water for human consumption and food production through the implementation of simple, low-cost social technologies. To promote coexistence with rainfall scarcity, the program has promoted the use of plate cistern technology, reservoirs that store rainwater for use during the eight most critical months of drought. This program was incorporated by the Brazilian government, through the Ministry of Social Development, as the National Program to Support Rainwater Harvesting and other Social Technologies (Cisterns Program), working with low-income rural families affected by drought or regular water shortages, with priority given to traditional peoples and communities.

The cistern-building strategy empowers families by decentralizing the source and thus enabling each family to manage their own water. Democratizing access to water disrupts the mechanisms of the so-called "drought industry," which have long been tools for political and electoral manipulation of communities. Furthermore, the methodology applied in P1MC, rather than having a welfare-based approach, in which ready-made solutions are provided to communities, allows each family to be involved in the entire process and take ownership of the technology.

Another crucial point in the water supply issue in the Northeast region concerns salinization, a result of the limited amount of water available underground, which is more susceptible to processes that increase saline concentration due to salts released by rocks. To increase freshwater availability, some practices are already being implemented, such as desalination – there are already between 3.500 and 4.000 desalination plants⁹ throughout the Semiarid region, the result of government programs, such as Água Doce, and NGOs. Furthermore, studies are underway to make agriculture viable using this water¹⁰ and the use of bioremediation plants (which remove high amounts of salt from the soil) in the recovery of areas degraded by salinization.

There is already a wealth of technologies and practices available to enable coexistence with the Semiarid region. It is therefore crucial to reach those in need, ensuring the quality and quantity of water necessary for a dignified and healthy life for all who live in this biome.