Urban Flood Control Plan in São Paulo City (PAP014974)

Código

PAP014974

Autores

MARCO ANTONIO PALERMO

Tema

Urban Floods

Resumo

URBAN FLOOD CONTROL PLAN IN SÃO PAULO CITY by MARCO ANTONIO PALERMO1 ABSTRACT The recent severe floods in urban areas of Espírito do Santo State have demonstrated how far some places in Brazil are in adopting basic procedures of urban land planning. It seems that we have forgotten completely the knowledge of the great engineers, architects and urban planning staff that worked in important cities of Brazil in the 20th century. São Paulo City, as well as Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Santos have experienced an enormous urban development during the first half of the 20th century. In this period some clever mayors supported by a competent technical team conducted several plans and public works that were capable to transform the urban life and support floods during almost four decades. More recently a new and more intense urbanization process has been observed in many cities of Brazil, due to the increase of the migration from the rural zones to the urban areas. Since then, we were not able to conduct new policies in order to provide adequate drainage infrastructure. In general only limited actions have been taken, without success. In the case of São Paulo City a new policy has been adopted recently, focused on the application of the principles of Federal Law 11.445, known as the Sanitation Act. The City of São Paulo has been developing a drainage master plan, called Plano de Manejo de ÁguasPluviais". This paper aims to present the basis applied in the new Flood Management Plan for São Paulo City, demonstrating the existing connection between the Plan and the conceptual basis of the Federal Sanitation Act. It is presented a suggestion of how this experience could be applied in other regions like Espírito Santo State, where there is a lack of technical capability and also absence of flood urban planning strategies. The necessity to take the discussion of this important matter to the national political agenda is fundamental. How can we succeed in this difficult task is also object of discussion, considering that in Brazil most of the government plans and actions do not include adequate drainage works. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 PhD in Water Resources Engineering, Hydrologist (IHE-DELFT), former vice-president of the Upper Tietê River Basin Committee.Presidentof Instituto Pró-Ambiente and CEO ofAltamisa Engenharia, São Paulo, Brasil."