A novel integrated concept of urban water management in a megalopolis from Latin America (São Paulo, Brazil): risk or opportunity?

Davi Gasparini Fernandes Cunha (1) , Doron Grull (2) , Pedro Caetano Sanches Mancuso (2)

1 Department of Hydraulics and Sanitary Engineering
2 Department of Environmental Health

Urban water management is a challenge for developing countries because population increase is not accompanied by sanitation improvement. We assessed the feasibility study of an in situ flotation pilot system (10m3/s) in a polluted river in São Paulo (the treated water was pumped to a multipurpose reservoir). We quantified 148 water variables (>200,000 analyses) in 11 sites (Aug/07-Mar/10). The study was favored by the high treated flow and laboratory data availability, but operational interruptions for maintenance occurred. Quantitatively speaking, the water pumped to the reservoir supported energy generation and human supply. However, the water quality was affected by the affluent treated water. Our project is an interesting approach because: in situ technologies are adequate for areas with no space for ex situ treatment facilities; the integrated concept attempts to explore urban waters as resources for human activities; further research may find alternatives to solve the detected inefficiencies.

Mots clés: Developing countries; management; in situ treatment; urban areas; water quality

Domaines: Environnement et Société

Davi Gasparini Fernandes Cunha, Doron Grull, Pedro Caetano Sanches Mancuso. A novel integrated concept of urban water management in a megalopolis from Latin America (São Paulo, Brazil): risk or opportunity?. 11th edition of the World Wide Workshop for Young Environmental Scientists (WWW-YES-2011) - Urban Waters: resource or risks?, Jun 2011, Arcueil, France. ⟨hal-00607830⟩