Land-Use and Legislation-Based Methodology for the Implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems in the Semi-Arid Region of Brazil

Abstract

In developing countries, the urbanisation process occurs with empirical urban management, a high increase of impermeable areas, and a lack of connection between water resource management and planning. In Brazil, concentrated rainfall and ineffective urban drainage systems add to this context and may impact the population with flash floods. Although sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are widely used for flood mitigation, it is still not very well known how those strategies behave in semi-arid regions, where most of the time the weather is very dry. In Brazil, flood mitigation still mostly involves structural measures such as larger pipes or channels, with limited guidance for SuDS use due to the great resistance to change by citizens and managers. This study sought to analyse the efficacy of SuDS in Campina Grande, a semi-arid region of Brazil. A land-use and legislation-based methodology was developed with physical, climate, hydrological and governance data for three catchments and 312 sub-catchments in 30 applications and simulations. Simulations suggest that these strategies would be appropriate for semi-arid regions, with reductions in the flooded area, flooding volume, and impacts. This study is of relevance for cities with a similar climate to reach a sustainable level of urban drainage services, supporting the integration of urban planning and water resources management.

An integrated socio-environmental framework for mapping hazard-specific vulnerability and exposure in urban areas

“…However, flooding cases are seen spatially dispersed in different areas of the city (Figure 1(b)), not only in the 'risk areas', which suggests there is a need for developing more accurate information for effective management (Alves et al 2018). The middle-sized city (IBGE 2018) lacks in having sufficient flooding preparedness strategies for the population (Alves et al 2020; and has a weak integration of urban planning and water resources management (de Araújo Grangeiro, Ribeiro, and de Miranda 2019).…”

“…In the Brazilian context, a weak inspection of the legislation fulfilment is seen in different cities. The Master Plan of Campina Grande regulates the maximum imperviousness of 80% of the area in each lot; however, this threshold is often exceeded by residents without any consequence (Alves et al 2020) (i.e. see Alves et al (2020) for a complete legislation analysis).…”

Water Conservation and Green Infrastructure Adaptations to Reduce Water Scarcity for Residential Areas with Semi-Arid Climate: Mineral de la Reforma, Mexico

“…These strategies are a compelling necessity in the current climatic change context, especially in arid and semi-arid zones. Land-use based modeling was applied at the simulation level to a semi-arid region of Brazil, and it was found that green infrastructure strategies would reduce flooded areas and impacts [71,72]. According to Barros-Ramalho-Alves et al [72], such prediction methodologies can support both long-term urban planning and water resource management.…”

“…Land-use based modeling was applied at the simulation level to a semi-arid region of Brazil, and it was found that green infrastructure strategies would reduce flooded areas and impacts [71,72]. According to Barros-Ramalho-Alves et al [72], such prediction methodologies can support both long-term urban planning and water resource management. Lastly, the parameters proposed in this study (T r , T c , Q, R t and R e ) may be useful for the design and planning of sustainable stormwater infrastructure in new developments in urban areas with no precise rainfall information (hourly rainfall, rainfall intensity).…”

Understanding the NEEDS for ACTING: An integrated framework for applying nature-based solutions in Brazil

“…The context will generate specific challenges that will need to be managed effectively to implement NBS (Raymond et al 2017a(Raymond et al , 2017b. The first barrier for applying NBS is based on the understanding that context affects performance directly since they are significantly influenced by hazards intensities (Qin et al 2013), placement (Passeport et al 2013Ahmed et al 2017), climate (Alves et al 2020d), land use (Martin-Mikle et al 2015) and social inequalities (Heckert & Rosan 2018). This suggests there is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach that can be applied everywhere (Colléony & Shwartz 2019) and that the lack of 'locally-oriented' information can harm NBS proposal (Nesshover et al 2017).…”