The effects of the Cisterns Program on water access in the semiarid region

This article highlights the reconfiguration of water access in the diffuse low-income rural population of the semiarid region, according to the perception of the people implementing the Cisterns Program. Still marked by land concentration, the Brazilian Semiarid is home to a large population of rural residents and small producers in smallholdings with problems of quantity, quality and regularity in access to water. These families need to use various sources of water outside their homes to supply their needs and are still subject to their political use. However, reversing an ineffective historical trajectory of public intervention, a successful partnership between the State and civil society set in motion a comprehensive program for the formation and construction of cisterns and other social technologies, which improve water access by around 1.3 millions of families. Thus, this article explores the result of 31 interviews conducted in Brasilia, Bahia, Alagoas and Pernambuco, from September 2018 to April 2019, with implementers of the Program at various levels, who answered the following question: did the Cistern Program change the water access situation in the semiarid?