Regions affected by drought or regular lack of quality water, especially the Brazilian semi-arid region and the Amazon.

• Drinking water;
• Water for production;
• Water in the Amazon.

Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger – MDS (which during 2019-2022 was designated Ministry of Citizenship – MC).

Public entities (States, Public Consortia and City Halls) and Civil Society Organizations

2003, with concentration in the semi-arid region, with expansion to other regions as of 2012.

Currently operational.

Guarantee of rights and productive inclusion based on social technologies of access to water.

There are no conditionalities, but the implementation of technologies is based on a training process with guidelines for self-management and autonomy in the operation and maintenance of equipment.

Low-income population (per capita income up to half a minimum wage), affected by drought or continuous lack of water. The priority coverage region is the Brazilian semi-arid region, although other rural regions of Brazil are also eligible (including regions of indigenous populations or other traditional peoples in the Amazon).

To be eligible, families must be registered in the Single Registry (or have a profile for registration in the Registry), with per capita income up to half a minimum wage and with inadequate access to water for consumption or food production.

Acumulado de Cisternas entregues em dezembro de cada ano, por modalidade de entrega do Programa Cisternas 

Source: MDS/SESAN – SIG Cisternas. 

The following three main types of technologies are distributed:

• First Water and School Cisterns: technologies aimed at water for human consumption, using 16-thousand-liter plate cistern and the school cisterns. 

• Second Water: technologies aimed at food production and animal watering, the main ones being the 52-thousand-liter cisterns, underground dams and trench barriers. 

The Cisterns in the Amazon Program includes technologies adapted to the specificities of water access in the Amazon region, integrating a water collection and storage system with a home sanitary facility, better known as multipurpose rainwater systems.

Cisterns and other social water access technologies are delivered/ installed in the family residence or in public schools, when applicable.

Total expenses of the Cisterns Program per yer. Nominal amounts paid.

*Amounts not available

Source: SIOP – Painel do Orçamento Federal (Federal Budget Panel) 

There are studies that suggest impacts on decreasing time and family effort to obtain water, reducing the occurrence of waterborne diseases, increasing school attendance and increasing birth weight^5,6,7,8,9,10 and increasing the income of beneficiary families³.

Publications of Embrapa demonstrate the feasibility of irrigating small beds with cistern water in the long period of semi-arid drought, and suggest desirable impacts on the food security of families^1,4.

Finally, direct results are also measured in the increase in income of beneficiaries of water technologies for production³, and, more recently, a study pointed out that even the cistern for drinking water increases the probability of beneficiaries being employed and promotes an increase in labor income².

The program has the following additional prioritization criteria: a) families headed by women; b) families with children from 0 (zero) to 6 (six) years old; c) families with children and/or adolescents attending school; d) families with adults aged 65 years or older; e) families with physical and/or mental disabilities. In addition to the components of consumption and family production generating desirable impacts on food security and school attendance alone, this latter effect is possibly enhanced by the existence of a specific component to supply public schools with cisterns that mitigate their access to water.

In addition to offering priority access to families headed by women, there are also governance rules that prioritize female participation with the civil society bodies that operate the program at the local level.

Priority beneficiaries are identified through the Single Registry, which is managed and kept up-to-date by SUAS professionals.  

Whereas MDS manages the program funds, the responsibility for implementation lies with local counterparts, including public entities and civil society specialized in social assistance, rural and agrarian development and infrastructure. 

At the federal level, the MDS collaborates with other agencies to secure resources, address specific needs (such as those of quilombolas and indigenous people), and coordinate with other policies (e.g., rural housing, diffuse rights).

N/A

1. Brito, Luiza Teixeira de Lima, Nilton de Brito Cavalcanti, Lúcio Alberto Pereira, João Gnadlinger, e Aderaldo de Souza Silva. 2010. “Água de chuva armazenada em cisterna para produção de frutas e hortaliças”. https://www.embrapa.br/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/879623/agua-de-chuva-armazenada-em-cisterna-para-producao-de-frutas-e-hortalicas.

2. Britto, G. C. Diogo; Carillo, Bladimir; Sampaio, Breno. 2021. "Análise de impacto do programa cisternas 1ª água sobre indicadores de mercado de trabalho. https://www.gov.br/sudene/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/ted0172020-produto2.pdf.

3. Casagrande, Dieison, Lucas Emanuel, Carlos Eduardo de Freitas, Alex Lima, Fábio Nishimura, e Felipe Oliveira. 2021. “Tecnologias Sociais e Renda: Evidências do Programa Cisternas. Segunda Água no Brasil”. https://www.anpec.org.br/encontro/2022/submissao/files_I/i12ac57d2d948a7eddeb19455c94b7f857b.pdf

4. Ferreira, Elvis Pantaleão, Luiza Teixeira de Lima Brito, Tarcizio Nascimento, Fernando Cartaxo Rolim Neto, e Nilton de Brito Cavalcanti. 2016. “Uso eficiente da água de chuva armazenada em cisterna para produção de hortaliças no Semiárido pernambucano”. Revista verde de agrtoecologia e desenvolvimento sustentável 11. Abril. https://www.gvaa.com.br/revista/index.php/RVADS/article/view/4035.

5. Pereira, Maria Cecília Gomes. 2016. “Água e convivência com o semiárido: múltiplas águas, distribuições e realidades”. https://bibliotecadigital.fgv.br/dspace/handle/10438/17062.

6. Duque, Ghislaine. 2015. “Água para o desenvolvimento rural: a ASA e os Programas P1MC e P1+2. Desafios da participação sociedade civil – governo”. https://lume.ufrgs.br/handle/10183/232410

7. Luna, Carlos Fitosa Luna. 2011. “Avaliação do impacto do programa um milhào de cisternas rurais (P1MC) na saúde: ocorrência de diarréia no agreste central de Pernambuco”. https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/10660.

8. Arsky, Igor da Costa. 2020. “Os efeitos do Programa Cisternas no acesso à água no semiárido”. https://revistas.ufpr.br/made/article/view/73378.

9. Filho, Naércio-Menezes, e Elaine Toldo Pazello. 2008. “Avaliação Econômica do Projeto 1 Milhão de Cisternas – P1MC”.https://www.febraban.org.br/7Rof7SWg6qmyvwJcFwF7I0aSDf9jyV/sitefebraban/Apresenta%E7%E3o%20Naercio%20Menezes%20-%20avalia%E7%E3o-P1MC.pdf.

10. Da Mata, Daniel; Emanuel, Lucas; Pereira, Vitor; Sampaio, Breno. 2023. Climate adaptation policies and infant health; Evidence from a water policy in Brazil. Journal of Public Economics. Vol. 220. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272723000178