The commission approves irrigation reservoirs in protected areas.

The Agriculture Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill authorizing the construction of water reservoirs for irrigation in Permanent Preservation Areas. The measure covers infrastructure projects classified as being of public utility and amends rules of the Forest Code.

The approved text corresponds to the substitute proposed by the rapporteur, Deputy Afonso Hamm (PP-RS), to Bill 1282/19, authored by the Senate. The proposal seeks to guarantee legal certainty and stimulate food production, focusing on increasing productivity through irrigation, without encroaching on new agricultural areas.

According to the rapporteur, the initiative corrects a gap in environmental legislation by creating an explicit provision for administrative regularity for reservoirs in Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) when intended for irrigation. The substitute bill removes limitations included by the Senate, such as restricting the benefit to properties of up to 25 fiscal modules.

The new text also eliminates the requirement to prove a water deficit in the five years prior to construction and the obligation to restore riparian buffer zones in an area equivalent to three times the size of the area removed, which was considered disproportionate by the rapporteur. Construction will depend on authorization from the competent environmental agency, a water use permit, and registration of the property in the Rural Environmental Registry.

The proposal will still go through the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee and the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee. After that, it will go to a vote in the Chamber's plenary session. Since there were changes, the text will return to the Senate.