Integrated Management of Water Resources and Land Use in Urban- Metropolitan Basins: Flood Control in the Iguaçu-Sarapuí River Basin (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)

Abstract

This research concerns the integration of urban land use planning to water resources management, focusing on flood control. A case study regarding the Iguacu-Sarapui River Basin, located in the western portion of the Guanabara Bay Basin, which lies in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro is discussed. This is one of the most critical areas in the state regarding urban flooding. This region is densely occupied and presents great urban and industrial development areas, as well as wide rural zones in an urbanising process, and reminiscent areas of natural vegetation on the upstream reaches of the basin. This case study intends to illustrate and to show how complex the interaction of urban drainage problems and the city growth can be in a context of an unplanned and non-integrated reality. In this region, urban expansion dynamics is, in general, marked by irregular occupation, in terms of land tenure and urban regularisation, and lack of sanitation. This creates a cycle difficult to treat: the urbanization without proper control compromises the drainage system which, in turn, fails and affects the urban environment, degrading it and creating situations of risk and losses. This paper aims at elucidating the challenges and perspectives to water resources management in densely urbanized basins in Brazil.