Abstract:
Most of Brazilian cities have developed in a fast and non-planning way, which made the already existing problems even bigger, specially the infrastructure and the environment issues. The elevated urban growth rate in Brazil contribute to increase the conflicts for the water resources use in the cities, making its quality get even worse. The guarantee of water supply to all the Brazilian urban centers must be a priority, since it is a basic human necessity, and it is considered to be strategic for a country development (ANA, 2010). In order to ensure the water supply, in good quantity and quality, for the entire population in the country, there must be an integrated management of the water resources and use. Many issues are generated due to the lack of an integrated management of the land and the urban water resources, which originates a huge challenge for public policies. In an attempt to overcome social and environmental problems, this research aims to guide the policies of water resources management and urban managementthrough a methodology for mapping the socioenvironmental vulnerability in urban microbasins through a geoprocessing free software. It will be used for the cities in Minas Gerais state surrounding the Piracicaba river and will be expressed in an easy-to-understand guidance booklet for the use of geoprocessing techniques and mapping of social and environmental vulnerability in order to subsidize urban territorial management of water resources. By mapping social and environmental vulnerability, it is possible to direct occupation in cities and create mechanisms for preservation of urban watersheds, which are key factors for urban planning in municipal management, as well as simplifying the dialogue between the municipal master plan and the basin plan.
