Avaliação da implantação de estruturas hídricas no atendimento das demandas na região do Alto Oeste Potiguar

Abstract

Water management is one of humanity's biggest challenges, especially when it concerns multiple uses, as advocated in Law 9433/1997. In semi-arid regions, this challenge is heightened because of climatic and physical conditions, such as low precipitation rates, high temperatures, and evaporation rates. In Rio Grande do Norte, the Alto Oeste Potiguar region is included in this scenario, presenting great difficulties in meeting its hydric demands. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the functioning of the main reservoirs in the region to meet their demands, especially the demand for urban supply, considering the last period of water scarcity experienced in the region, the drought between the years 2012 and 2017, using the Acquanet system and system evaluation indexes, to identify the most resistant and the most vulnerable reservoirs. Thus, it was possible to notice that the Santa Cruz do Apodi and Rodeador reservoirs were shown as more resistant to the effects of drought, meeting their demands (priority and non-priority) without the occurrence of failures. As it was also possible to see the vulnerability of the other reservoirs in the face of this event, particularly the Bonito II reservoir, which had lower reliability indexes. Therefore, based on the results obtained, it was proposed to implement an adductor system in the region, considering Santa Cruz do Apodi and Rodeador as source reservoirs, to meet priority demands in periods of scarcity. The simulation results showed that the implementation of the adductor system would allow meeting the priority demands without the occurrence of failures, resulting in 100% reliability in the face of these demands, also enabling higher levels of reliability when faced with meeting the non-priority demands.