In the last decades, the scarcity of fresh water has become an obvious concern to society; becoming a threat to the sustainable development of human society. So the issues are debated in the global context, and increasingly there are expected emerging actions by public officials on ways to use and reuse of water.
In this perspective, the study aimed to calculate the sustainability index in consumption and access of fresh water in the municipalities Sergipe / Brazil. This approach requires protection demonstrate the balance between the physical environment and its resources, and use these resources to allow the planet continue to support an acceptable quality of life.
For methodology was adapted the calculation for construction of sustainability indexes, and was based on studies of Martins, et al. (2008); Waquil, et al. (2007); Sepulveda (2005) were focused verify the development dynamics in a multidimensional perspective adjusting the variable values between 0 (zero) and 1 (one) to turn into indexes and presenting a positive or negative relationship.
Nonetheless, the variable is seen as positive when it contributes to the dynamics of recovery and use correctly the water, while the negative is used when the variable has aspects that do not value the dynamics of use and consumption of water in a balanced and sustainable way, rather within the standards determined by the UN (the United Nations).
However, what is related to the development of standards has been placed on the scale represented by colors according to the setting of local sustainability. The closer to 1 the value of the index, the greater sustainability. Thus, the identification of the status of each dimension worked in Sergipe municipalities are based on the study: critical, alert, acceptable and ideal.
Thus, we used the comparative method crossing the data obtained by calculating the development index among the municipalities in Sergipe and their points of funneling between variables by crossing the same as those derived from the information found: the IBGE; the NHIS; DATASUS; in FEINBRA; UNDP and other public domain websites on the situation of each municipality.
So knowing the dynamics of consumption and water access in all municipalities and the discrepancy between them, seeks to contribute to the direct action of the manager after the reality diagnosis and ability to make decisions throughout the process through shared management, supported the principles of social responsibility and the promotion of municipal sustainability.