IMPACT OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT PROPAGATION AFTER THE HYPOTHETICAL FAILURE OF TAILINGS DAMS IN THE DOCE RIVER BASIN

Código

ENES20200065

Autores

Marcos Cristiano Palú, Pierre Y. Julien

Tema

06 - RISCOS E DESASTRES RELACIONADOS AOS SEDIMENTOS

Resumo

The collapse of tailings dams has caused severe socio and environmental consequences in Brazil. The last two major accidents (Fundão and Brumadinho Dams) alarmed the Brazilian authorities about the need of improvement on safety, contingency and remediation procedures. Based on the sediment transport measurements along the Doce River after the Fundão Dam collapse, the one-dimensional advection-dispersion equation with settling was developed, presenting satisfactory results for the propagation of the tailings along 570 km of the Doce River, including the effects of hydropower reservoirs. Further, it was validated in Paraopeba River, after the Brumadinho Dam collapse. This procedure is now applied to assess the potential impact of the hypothetical collapse of 51 tailings dams in the Doce River basin. The analysis quantifies the population that would be affected by severe water supply interruptions in the towns along the rivers. The simulation results show that tailings dams located in the Piracicaba basin, a Doce River sub-basin, have the highest potential to adversely impact the water supply of the downstream towns due to the tailings dams? features as volume stored and proximity with populated towns. Ultimately, the collapse of the four dams in this sub-basin could shut down the water supply for approximately 1.000.000 people.