Reply on RC1
<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> This paper aims to analyze the risk of municipal urban water shortage in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) through the results of the Index of Water Shortage Risk (IRDH). The theoretical-methodological assumptions are based on Walle and Birkmann (2015); Almeida, Welle and Birkman (2016); Medeiros (2018); Oliveira (2018); Macedo et al. (2020 e 2021). In this context, the IRDH was structured in a systemic perspective, where the territories of water shortage risk were identified through environmental, social and economic, and state planning indicators, using 19 variables as instruments of analysis. The research was conducted qualitatively and quantitatively, evaluating and analyzing the risk of water shortage in RN and the 153 cities that compose the system of supply managed by the Company of Waters and Sewers of Rio Grande do Norte (CAERN), a state concessionaire (representing 92 % of the 167 cities of the State), in its seven regions of water supply. The result of the IRDH of Rio Grande do Norte proved the relationship between the indicators in the water shortage problem in the State, classifying 49 % of the analyzed cities in the classes of &ldquo;high&rdquo; and &ldquo;very high&rdquo; risk, which places them in a situation of higher attention regarding the potential damages derived from the water shortage, 40.5 % of them being &ldquo;medium&rdquo; and 10 % &ldquo;low&rdquo; risks, with no occurrences of &ldquo;very low&rdquo; risk examples. In absolute values, 1 city was classified as &ldquo;very high&rdquo;; 74 were classified as &ldquo;high&rdquo;; 62 as &ldquo;medium&rdquo;; and 16 were considered of &ldquo;low&rdquo; risk of water shortage. With the goal of reducing/mitigating the results of the IRDH in the State, a transposition of watersheds, integration of supply systems, hydrogeologic research, among others, were proposed.