What is Environmental Justice

Hydroinformatics tools have increasingly offered a contribution towards the assessment of water management problems and the formulation of enhanced solutions. Nonetheless, the search for improved basis of water management requires not only a combination of technical and managerial responses, but also a firm action against socioeconomic injustices and political inequalities. This chapter problematises the role of hydroinformatics in situations of established inequalities and acute management distortions. A case study of the Baixada Fluminense, in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro, illustrates the challenges to reverse unsustainable practices where water problems have been exploited by local and national politicians. Although the hydroinformatics community is certainly aware of the social dimension of water management, the aim is to further emphasise the centrality of issues of power and political disputes. The chapter concludes that the agenda of hydroinformatics needs to expand in order to combine state-of-the-art information technology with a critical understanding of how social and spatial differences affect the use and conservation of water systems.