Analysis of reservoir security indicators regarding water supply for energy, food, and ecosystem sectors on a climate change perspective

Climate change impacts water resource users across various sectors. In almost all biomes, socioeconomic patterns are barriers to accelerating the transition toward sustainable lifestyles, aiming to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improving the adaptation to mitigate hydrological risks. One strategy is to understand the operation of multipurpose reservoirs, which play a crucial role for guaranteeing water security. However, these systems face challenges on policy strategies due to the high number of variables, strong coevolution of change drivers, and underlying constraints of objective functions, in the pursuit of reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience. Overcoming these challenges is essential to decrease vulnerability and improve resilience in water management practices. These challenges are exacerbated in developing countries due to inadequate measurement of these factors, coupled with a lack of comprehensive hydrological information and operational strategies necessary to effectively manage the water demands of the energy, food, and ecosystem sectors. Thus, the objective of this study is to understand the patterns of reservoir operation in hydrological regions of Brazil and the problems around the absence of appropriate indicators to improve water security and adaptive management. This will be done by collecting information of the databases established by National Water and Sanitation Agency of Water (Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento – ANA), which is legally liable for implementing the National Water Resources Management System (SINGREH), created to ensure the sustainable use of rivers and lakes for the current and future generations in Brazil. The data collection will include the fixed and occasional demands associated with the reservoirs, as well as the data related to their water supply. Furthermore, watershed management plans, water allocation permit, characterization of dam structures and reservoir monitoring data will give support for the future analyses. Through an investigation centered on Brazil's hydrological regions and the National Water and Sanitation Agency, this study aims evaluate quantitative indicators for water security and adaptive management, we aim to optimize the operations of multipurpose reservoirs, enhancing their resilience in face of the environmental changes. Our goal is to propose operational indices that can assist the monitoring and implementation of national policies for ensuring water security and adaptive management of these reservoirs under environmental change.

Keywords: WEFE nexus, multipurpose reservoirs, adaptive water security, climate change.