WATER SECURITY OF HYDROSYSTEMS IN THE BRAZILIAN SEMI-ARID REGION UNDER A FUTURE CLIMATE
Water security. Hydrological modeling. Climate change. Reservoirs. Semiarid region.
The semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil is characterized by scarce and irregular precipitation, high evapotranspiration rates, and a strong dependence on surface reservoirs for regulating water supply. Climate projections indicate an intensification of the frequency and severity of droughts in the region throughout the 21st century, which may compromise the regulation capacity of these reservoirs and increase risks to the water security of the populations that depend on them. This study aims to assess the water security of hydrosystems in the semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil under a future scenario. To this end, an integrated hydrological modeling and water balance approach will be employed to simulate reservoir inflows under recent climate conditions (1990–2019) and under downscaled future climate projections for the near future (2030–2059) and distant future (2060–2089) horizons. Reliability and vulnerability indicators will be calculated to understand the impacts on the system. The study is expected to identify the areas most susceptible to the deterioration of water security under future scenarios, generating technical input to improve planning and adaptive management of water resources in the Brazilian semi-arid region.