18
The News N° 24 - March 2014
LATIN AMERICA
Brazil
Towards
a Professional Water
Training Center
In November 2012 in São Paulo,
the ”Fun-
dação Escola de Sociologia e Política
de São Paulo” (FESPSP) and IOWater
signed a cooperation agreement for the
creation of a Water and Sanitation Trai-
ning Center for Professionals in the
south-east region of Brazil.
In partnership with the Brazilian “FESPSP”
team responsible for this innovative project,
IOWater
provides its expertise to carry out a
Feasibility Study whose overall objective is to
define the educational, technical and finan-
cial conditions for the establishment of the
Brazilian Training Center.
The activities planned for about 6-months
started in October 2013 by a study tour of a
delegation of eight “FESPP” experts to visit
the educational facilities of
IOWater ’s
National Water Training Center
in France.
IOWater
technical assistance operates under
Brazilian funding.
4
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
Cooperation
of the Loire-Brittany Water Agency with PCJ
In 2006, the Loire-Brittany Water
Agency signed a cooperation agree-
ment with the Intermunicipal Consor-
tium of the Piracicaba, Capivari and Jun-
diaí river basins (PCJ).
It has resulted in constant exchanges bet-
ween both partners with the support of
IOWater,
and allowed disseminating the
experiences of the PCJ Consortium and Loire-
Brittany Water Agency to other basin institu-
tions in Brazil.
A new step forward in the cooperation
between France and Brazil was taken in
May 2013, by organizing a seminar and
a technical visit in the Rio Grande do Sul
(RGS),
the southernmost Brazilian State,
which encounters a paradoxical situation:
since 1988, it has been housing the oldest
Basin Committee in Brazil, which meets every
month as the 25 other committees created
since, but there is not yet a Basin Agency,
while the Law for its establishment was pas-
sed in 1994.
The partners defined a cooperation program
for the years 2014-2015, with the aim to help
the Basin Committees of Rio Grande do Sul to
overcome technical and institutional difficul-
ties that hinder better implementation of Inte-
grated Water Resources Management.
The following actions are planned:
l
Finalization of a reference document com-
paring the situation of water manage-
ment in the RGS and the PCJ and Loire-
Brittany basins;
l
Organization of seminars in the Rio
Grande do Sul on the topics of gover-
nance and tools for Integrated Water
Resources Management (planning, fun-
ding and monitoring systems);
l
Organization of a technical visit of the
Basin Committees of Rio Grande do Sul in
the PCJ basins (located about 1,000 km to
the north).
4
Chile
The Chilean Ministry of Public Works
(MOP) and its General Directorate of
Water (DGA), are working to develop an
Action Plan for improving water
resources management.
It thus requested technical assistance from
the World Bank
to assess the situation and
formulate a national strategy.
IOWater
contributed to the definition of the
Action Plan for improving the institutional fra-
mework, with a particular focus on the neces-
sary reforms. In particular,
IOWater
presen-
ted the French institutional “model” for water
resources management and helped in the
evaluation of the institutions in charge of
water resources management in Chile.
The Chilean model is unique as all surface
water resources are distributed among the
holders of water rights.
The type of use is not specified and a market
for water rights, without State regulation,
allows the resale of these rights between pri-
vate operators and users.
Aiming for integrated water resources mana-
gement, having a strategic vision at basin
level, promoting decentralized and participa-
tory management, preserving the environ-
mental flow of a river, applying the user-pays
principle, are all concepts and challenges that
remain very difficult to achieve with the cur-
rent legal and institutional framework.
4
The market of water rights
and Integrated Water Resources Management
Seminar in May 2013 in Porto Alegre
The Maipo River - Chile
WORLD BANK
