The review of São José do Rio Preto (SP) Master Plan and its integration with the Turvo Grande Basin Plan: analysis of water management criteria

Municipal Master Plans must integrate the present guidelines into the Water Plans, identifying control and inspection tools through which citizens can manage and the public administration can supervise and guarantee their effective compliance. The objective of this work was to investigate the relationship between these environmental planning instruments, using the Municipal Master Plan of São José do Rio Preto, SP, located in the Turvo and Grande Rivers Basin (UGRH 15) as a case study. To do so, an analysis of the history of the Municipal Master Plan review was conducted, seeking to identify the possible contributions of information from the Basin Plan to the development of the Municipal Master Plan's diagnosis and prognosis. An analysis of synergies existing in both Plans was carried out, regarding the diagnosis and proposals, in criteria related to water resources, such as water quality and quantity, solid waste, protection and revegetation of Permanent Preservation Areas, recovery and prevention of urban and rural erosions, environmental zoning, and others. The results showed that, for the majority of the selected criteria, there was partial or total synergy between the Plans, which were coincidental, due to the lack of formal articulation. It is concluded that, through the analysis of the Turvo Grande Basin Plan and the São José do Rio Preto Master Plan, integrated management did not occur systematically, due to the absence of Committee participation in the Master Plan review process, even though municipal representatives in this body were present in its preparation. Furthermore, there are no formal mechanisms for coordination between planning systems in the country, such as Strategic Environmental Assessment.