Consortium for Semiarid Region Studies (CISA)

1. Consortium for Semiarid Region Studies (CISA) Rodolfo Nobrega Research Assistant Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil

2. The CISA ProjectOverview • What is the CISA Project? • Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG) • Technology and Natural Resources Center • Civil EngineeringDepartment/Water Resources Engineering Area • Joint ICASALS/TTU – UFCG Projects • CISTERNAS Project • SegHidro Project • My visit to TTU

3. What is the CISA Project? • Promotes cooperation among research centers to studysemiaridregionproblemsrelated water scarcity. • Involves universities and research organizations in Northeast Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, France and Cape Verde. • Fundedbythe Brazilian Ministry of Science andTechnology (US $1.5 million)

4. CISA OBJECTIVES • Short-termGraduateStudentsExchanges • Technicalvisits by researchers • Thematic meetings, workshops and mini courses • Research activities in selectedwatersheds in NortheastBrazil.

5. CISA Research Topics • Public Policies for Semiaridregions • Methodologiesapplied to the use of Non-Conventional Water Resources • Water Resources Management

6. Methodologiesapplied to the use ofNon-ConventionalWater Resources • Artificial Groundwater Recharge • Wastewater Reuse • WaterTreatmentMethodologies • WaterDesalination and reject use • Water Harvesting for human and animal use

7. The CISA ProjectOverview • What is the CISA Project? • Federal University of Campina Grande • Technology and Natural Resources center • Water Resources Engineering Area • The Projectsrelatedwiththisinterchangeat TTU • CISTERNAS Project • SegHidro Project • My visit to TTU

8. Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG) • Degrees: • 55 undergraduate • 17 master’s • 9 doctorals • About 13,000 students, 1,000 Facultyand 1,500 administrators and supporting staff members

9. Technology and Natural Resources Center, UFCG • About 120 faculty • Departments: Atmospheric Sciences, Civil Engineering, Mining Engineering and Agricultural Engineering. • 34 Laboratories

10. Water Resources Engineering Area (UFCG) • 10 full-timeProfessors • 3 Laboratories • HydraulicsLab I • HydraulicsLab II • Schooland Experimental Basin

11. The CISA ProjectOverview • What is the CISA Project? • Federal University of Campina Grande • Technology and Natural Resources center • Water Resources Engineering Area • The Projectsrelatedwiththisinterchangeat TTU • CISTERNAS Project • SegHidro Project • My visit to TTU

12. The CISTERNAS ProjectBackground • Rainwater harvesting to supplement drinking water supply in rural areas • Research on the institutional and sanitary aspects of the management of the rainwater harvesting. • Field work in rural communities of Brazilian Semiarid

13. The CISTERNAS Project Objectives • To identify the relation betweenexistingwaterlaws and theinstitutionsresponsible for rainwater harvesting with cistern systems in rural areas ofNortheasternBrazil. • To evaluatethe application of federal water policies atthe local level.

14. The CISTERNAS Project Motivation Program: "one million cisterns for the Brazilian Semiarid”, has already built 300 thousand rainwater harvesting systems and it is funded by governmental and non-governmental sources.

15. The CISTERNAS Project Related Topics

16. The SegHidro is a Decision Support System conceived as computational platform that provides: The aggregation of computing and storage resources through grid computing middleware. Thesharingof data. Thediscoveryof data andresourcesthrough a distributedinformationservice. The coupling of models through a workflow composition tool. Tools for enabling communication among users. TheSegHidro Project

17. The SegHidro Project • Current implementations: • Module for: data, storage and simulation models. • Simulation models of basin, aquifer and harvesting systems behavior Groundwatermodelling Regional impactofclimatechangescenarios

18. The CISA ProjectOverview • What is the CISA Project? • Federal University of Campina Grande • Technology and Natural Resources center • Water Resources Engineering Area • The Projectsrelatedwiththisinterchangeat TTU • CISTERNAS Project • SegHidro Project • My visit to TTU

19. My visit to TTU Objectives • To diagnose some of the most important legal and institutional frameworks related to rainwater harvesting and aquifer management of the State of Texas. • To improve the Early Warning System (EWS) under development by considering the uncertainties associated to climate forecasting, monitored data and model parameterization.

20. My visit to TTU The Early Warning System • The EWS includes the following components: • Basins and aquifers features, including time series of monitored data. • Institutional and legal context. • Rainwater harvesting and aquifer simulation models. • Scenario generator procedures. • Scenario evaluation procedures. • Currently the following have already been implemented: • Modules for data and storage and execution models. • Basin and aquifer behavior simulation models

21. My visit to TTU • Basic approaches to scenario generation and evaluation. • Experiments in Brazilian semiarid aquifers and rainwater harvesting systems had been made. These experiments improved the parameterization of small shallow aquifers and showed which EWS components had to be improved.

22. My visit to TTU Why TTU? • Cooperation meetings and understands : • II WASLIC/ICASALS Conference in Gravatá – Brazil • Partnership between ICASALS (Dr. A. C. Correa) and CISA (Dr. Carlos Galvao, UFCG) to appoint faculty and student exchange. • ICASALS and WRC’s experience on semi-arid aquifer modeling and management. • Stateof Texas advancedinstitutional framework onrainwaterharvesting.

23. My visit to TTU Schedule Activities • Analysis of the legal and institutional frameworks of the State of Texas related to rainwater harvesting and aquifer management, through interviews with relevant actors in these settings. • The following institutions/companies/people will be visited/interviewed: • ICASALS and WRC at TTU • Texas Water Development Board (focusing the Innovative Water Technologies Group and Groundwater Resources Division) • Texas Rainwater Catchment Association members • Rainwater Harvesting Systems, Inc. • Use information obtained from visits/interviews to Brazilian EWS.

24. My visit to TTU Schedule Activities (cont.) • Improvement of the scenario generator and evaluation procedures uncertainties associated to input variables to take into account. • Water demands. • Seasonal rainfall forecasts. • Models parameterization. • Physical characteristics of aquifers and rainwater harvesting systems with cisterns.

25. My visit to TTU Preliminary Results • Sumé shallow aquifer, Paraiba, Brazil. • Relationship between groundwater availability and water demands

26. My visit to TTU Preliminary Results Seasonalclimateforecasts Parameterizationofthe small shallowaquifer Hydraulic heads estimate Hydraulic heads variation Uncertanties: water demands, seasonal rainfall forecasts, and characteristics of aquifer.

27. My visit to TTU Preliminary Results • Rainwater harvestingwithcisterns SJC1 Cistern

28. My visit to TTUPreliminary Results • SJC1 Cistern: estimatevsobservedwater volume in storage. Water Demand and Model Parameterization Uncertainties

29. My visit to TTUPreliminary Results • Legal andInstitutionalAspects • Brazilian public health regulations do not address the quality of water in cisterns.

30. My visit to TTUQuestions about water harvesting in Texas • Which TX government policies promote water harvesting through small systems? • What are integrated (Federal, State and Municipal) water harvesting policies? • What are the legal aspects of water harvesting in Texas? • What are the characteristics of the Texas harvesting practices that could be applied in Northeastern Brasil?

31. My visit to TTU • Activitiesschedule • 1. Data collection; • 2. Data analysis and report writing ; • 3. Improvement of modeling algorithms based on Texas water harvesting practice.

32. Thankyou! Rodolfo Nobrega rodolfo@hidro.ufcg.edu.br CISA Project Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Brasil