Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: BRUNO LOPES DA SILVA

THE CHRISTMAS WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM: A TERRITORIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER COLLAPSE RISKS

Key words: Water supply system; Water collapse; Risk levels.

Human supply is one of the essential activities for the development of society, since actions of a commercial, industrial, residential nature, among others, require large-scale water consumption. In urban centers, where consumption demand tends to be greater, there is a need for water supply systems to be technically well structured, so that they can serve the population effectively and minimize the risk of water collapse. Several Brazilian cities in recent years have gone through situations of water shortages or collapse, such as Natal, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, which has faced a series of problems in its water supply system. In 2017, for example, the Extremoz lagoon, one of the main reservoirs that supply the city, only had 35.67% of its total capacity, due to the long period of drought that affected much of the state's territory. The analysis of this context took into account two sets of categories: the categories of land use; and collapse risk categories. From this perspective, the objective was to analyze the relationship between the use of the territory and the risk of hydrological collapse of the water supply system in Natal. To achieve this objective, a series of methodological procedures were adopted, such as the articulation of the categories of land use and risk analysis; the definition of levels of analysis, study variables and weighting scales; database management in a matrix perspective (rows x columns); the mathematical-statistical formulation of the Water Supply System Collapse Risk Index (IRCSAA) in Natal; as well as cartographic categorization and the application of the Geographic Information System in the context of the IRCSAA. Preliminary results from the application of the IRCSAA for the North subsystem, showed that the risk of water collapse in the analyzed supply sectors was very high and high. Of the four sectors analyzed, three had a very high IRCSAA; and a tall one. Such a scenario requires the application of management measures and actions so that the risk of collapse is reduced and the water supply system works more effectively.