The research aimed to know the representations of water in some cities in Sao Paulo and Santa Catarina. Two hundred and ninety six structured interviews were conducted using a questionnaire elaborated on themes, categories and variables. In order to analyze the results, textual exploration of the questionnaires was performed identifying the discourse nuclei and their characteristics, grouped by content similarity. The majority of respondents indicated water as fundamental to survival. They also affirmed that it is currently sufficient, but they fear its unavailability in the future. They say that human actions are primarily responsible for this situation. It is concluded that the respondents question the ways of life and production nowadays, society organization and, consequently, they call attention to the unsustainable way of water consumption.
water; perception; environmental psychology
