Aliança das Águas: Uma iniciativa para conhecer o papel do Parque Nacional da Serra das Lontras no fornecimento de água para municípios do sul da Bahia

Abstract

This paper describes activities and achievements of the “Aliança das Águas” Project, an
initiative involving different institutions in order to know the contribution of the Serra das Lontras National
Park in the water supply, as well as the perception of local residents on water resources, land uses and
environmental issues related to the maintenance of the water. In addition, the project sought to contribute
with the consolidation of that Protected Area through environmental awareness and providing opportunities
for closer ties between the managing body of the park and the local community through workshops and
meetings where participatory methodologies were applied, such as the preparation of Mental Maps to support
an environmental and social diagnosis. Besides the sampling and analysis related to the flow and water quality
data, a map of land use of the park was produced, 1200 folders disclosure, and nine meetings were held,
with participation of 292 people and producing 10 mental maps with information about water resources and
environmental problems. Analyses showed remarkably clear waters, and sufficient to meet the diverse uses of
local society, with minimum flow of 972 liters per second, volume of at least 84 million liters of water per day,
a conservative estimate. Physicochemical parameters obtained are characteristic of rivers present in preserved
watersheds, demonstrating the importance of maintaining forest fragments, considering their representation
in the analysis of vegetation cover which showed the presence of at least 48% of the Park area occupied by
primary forests. The mental maps indicate that APPs are often occupied by “cabrucas”, and the indiscriminate
use of pesticides has been identified as a major environmental problem mentioned during the workshops.
The project raised a huge amount of information about PNSL and its surroundings. In addition to generating
valuable products for the planning, monitoring and protection of UC, from the data presented here open up
several possibilities for realization of other projects in the park.