Abstract

The northeastern region of Brazil has embattled a severe drought for centuries making it almost impossible to supply the local communities with adequate drinking water.  As part of their outreach program the university of Zumbi dos Palmares was contracted by the Ministry of Defense to provide the necessary technical expertise to build a water cistern in the town of Maranhao. One of the project requirements was that the cistern has to be built with minimal inputs so as to allow duplication in limited resource communities throughout the country. The aim of this paper is to describe the socio-economic aspect of this construction project. The entire project was conceived around the framework of sustainability which includes not only the methods and procedures used but also economic responsibilities and guidelines for the cistern long term care and maintenance. The “projeto Rondon” has proven to be a viable alternative in sync with the built-in environment.

Key words: Water resources, water availability, rainwater storage, low cost cisterns, and sustainability.