Abstract: The present paper discusses the vulnerability of Brazilian spa towns that depend on the extraction of mineral water, given the expansion of the market for bottled mineral water. It shows how the isolation of these communities and their sources of mineral water, on the one side, and the Brazilian environmental preservation policies (like the National Water Policy and the Conservation Units Policy), on the other, place risks to the sustainability of water production, to tourism and to the standards of living achieved by the communities depending on the extraction of mineral water.
Water resources; Environmental management; Protected areas; Conservation units; Environmental policies; Natural resources; Tourism; National Department of Mineral Production
