Alfredo Valladão and the creation of Water Code of the Republic (1907-1934): The public domain and the collective interest in the development of the hydroelectric matrix in Brazil

Abstract

In this article we revisit the Water Code of the Republic in Brazil, prepared by Alfredo Valladão in 1907, enacted by the National Congress, Decree nº 24.643, only on July 10, 1934. One of the main milestones in the regulation of the sector in Brazil, not without intense dissent, engendered the growing presence of the State from the 1930s, fundamental for the development of the sector. We are interested in portraying the spirit that animated its author and their results in the First Republic (1889-1930), when the foreign monopoly entered and started to control much of the utility sector for almost 80 years, as well as some of its consequences that lasted throughout the 20th century.

This dominance was the result of the expansion of financial capitalism in central countries, and the ordering created in Brazil may have been the possible reaction. The main sources and documents were the Code of Waters of the Republic, original edition of 1907, and the reissue of DNAEE in 1980, the Diary of the Chamber of Deputies, between 1907 and 1915, to try to retrace the causes of its long embarrassment, the Jornal do Commercio, between 1901 and 1932 (both available on the internet), as well as works and authors who commented and censored the Code. The panorama of public services has been changing again in the last 40 years, with strategic sectors for the development of the country destined, once again, to private and foreign capital, after the period of strong presence of the State. It is therefore urgent to raise reflections on the subject.

Keywords: Water Code; utilities; hydroelectricity; regulation; Valladão