The human right to access water is directly connected to the right to life and, as a limited natural resource, the assurance of meeting the demands becomes a very relevant object. Since the water consumption for multiple use have increased, the hydric infrastructure work is vital for the development of regions with irregular rainfall regime as in the Brazilian Northeast.
Although there are built dams records in the fifteenth century by the Dutch in the Northeast, the emergence of damming as public policy was initiated after the drought of 1877, known as a severe drought, which killed about 500,000 people and had stigmatized the region as problematic (Villa, 2001). It was from this calamity that has awakened to the need for infrastructure works that would allow the population to live with this phenomenon of high recurrence in the region. However, the political will of the federal government on several occasions, did not follow the urgency of implementing such works, alternating moments of high investment, usually after severe droughts, with times of scarce resources.
The Nacional Department of Drought Combat (DNOCS) is the public body that most implanted dams in Brazil, totaling 214 large dams in semi-arid until 1982, with its golden times during the 50’ties and 60’ties. By the end of this policy from federal government, during the 1980s, the states of the federation had to become the high entrepreneur in construction of public dams, and the State of Paraiba was one of the most who have bet on this strategy of coexistence with the drought in the Northeast.
Thus, this study aims to speculate about public policy of creating water infrastructure in the State of Paraiba as a coexistence strategy in the semi-arid
This might lead us to conclude that the strategy adopted by the governments has not yet achieved the objectives of ensuring the meeting of demands of Paraiba’s population. Thus, it is necessary to review this policy by, for instance, analyzing the potential of individual storage such as cisterns, combined with the implementation, in fact, of the instruments of the National Water Resources Policy, allowing these resources to have a sustainable use. By taking these actions, it is still possible that the state suffers the consequences of a severe drought due to water stress caused by the demand being greater than supply, however its vulnerability would decrease.