Intervening variables in the existence of watershed committees in Brazil

Abstract

Watershed management through committees is essential in mediating between water supply and demand for domestic consumption, as well as industrial, agricultural, leisure, and other uses of water. Successful management can occur through the identification and comprehension of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, among others, and therefore, these help shape the practices adopted by the committees. In this context, the central objective of this study was to analyse the intervening variables related to the geographic, demographic, socioeconomic aspects and the existence of a basin committee. The methodology consisted of a quantitative approach, using previously published documents and analysis applying descriptive statistics and the Pearson correlation test. The main results showed that the existence of a watershed committee is correlated with the size of the population, which promotes greater pressure as it increases. In addition, it was observed that the creation of committees is related to economic growth, number of conflicts for multiple uses, sewage collection and level of environmental quality degradation. We conclude, therefore, that in fact there are intervening variables for the existence of river basin committees and that the committees are necessary for the efficient management of those variables.