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Development of a state policy for sustainable urban drainage
Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
www.elsevier.com/locate/urbwat
Case study
Development of a state policy for sustainable urban drainage Cesar Augusto Pomp^eo * Departamento de Engenharia Sanit aria e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, CP 476, Campus Universitario, CEP 88040-900 Florian opolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil Received 31 July 1999; received in revised form 7 January 2000; accepted 25 January 2000
Abstract A survey of state and municipal administrationsÕ performance on urban ¯ood control and drainage is presented as a basis for discussing urban stormwater and sustainability. The investigation was done as part of a strategy for the development and implantation of a sanitation policy in the state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sustainable urban drainage; Urban drainage policy; Institutional organisation
1. Introduction What can be done in order to formulate and establish a state sanitation policy? The work presented here deals with this question. It is targeted at proposing some principles that may contribute to directing government action in the urban drainage sector, taking the present context of a public policy as well as speci®c technical elements into consideration, under the perspective of sustainability. Although this analysis may, at a ®rst sight, seem limited, it addresses many questions which express a more general situation, whose understanding is essential for implementing both the state sanitation policy and the state water resources policy. During the last 30 years the principles which guide urban stormwater control have changed. It was noticed that rapidly removing water accumulated in urbanised areas ended up just by transferring the problem either towards other areas or to the future. Other ways of tackling the problems have arisen. Flood plains have become subject to planning, placing constraints upon both their occupation and the types of works to be carried out, mainly aimed at ensuring the necessary ¯owing cross-section. The named compensatory measures that search for compensating the urbanisation effects over the hydrological processes have been introduced (Nascimento, Batista & De Souza, 1997). Detention reservoirs have been designed under the principles of compensatory measures for water collection *
Tel.: 55-48-331-9717; fax: 55-48-331-9770
and ¯ood control in urban areas; nevertheless, their costs are too high. Source control, introduced during the eighties, is another technique aimed at temporary storage in urban lots for ¯ow reduction and, when reduction of volumes is required, it associates in®ltration techniques (Genz & Tucci, 1995). The use of source control is delicate given that it requires installations in all of the individual properties and permanent maintenance by the resident. Besides this, source control implies not only the execution of diuse works but, mainly, assuming a new technological attitude with respect to the development of new paving materials, with norms set for its utilisation and for the occupation of public and private spaces. The term sustainable urban drainage is of recent origin. For the past three decades the perception of generalised environmental degradation, and the criticism of the styles of development based on an irrational exploration of nature have motivated numerous discussions and new proposals to allow the survival of human beings. Those who are very optimistic do not recognise the extent of these problems and prefer to ignore them, believing that some technical solution will arise in the future. Others, who are more realistic, warn that earth is the only known inhabited planet, and prefer to make proposals right away. Guided by this thinking sustainable development arose, a style of development aimed at sustainability, a concept that can be universally applied, including to urban drainage. The perspective of sustainability in relation to urban drainage introduces a new way of directing actions, based upon the recognition of the complexity of the relationships among the natural ecosystem, the arti®cial
1462-0758/00/$ - see front matter Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 4 6 2 - 0 7 5 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 3 - 0
156
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
urban system and society. This position demands that drainage and ¯ood control in urban areas be reconceptualised in technical and managerial terms. Urban planning, when it does exist, usually disregards the fact that the historical absence of integrated and harmonious solutions among the urban and the natural systems is also a signi®cant factor for the occurrence of frequent ¯ooding. Planning of urban activities related to water must be integrated into urban planning itself, including the planning of the urban grid and its expansion, the zoning of activities, the road and transport network, landscape aspects and other issues. The institutional integration must be the re¯ection of a systemic environmental conception. In this way, it is necessary to consider that management of water in urban environments is a special case of water resources management. Institutional action should integrate, on one hand, water resources management, and on the other, urban environmental sanitation. Equally important, the participation of society is referred to as an essential ingredient in tracing the route of sustainable development, as has been exhaustively mentioned in recent environmental literature. This means that the technology which accompanies sustainable development should also be socially sustainable, which entails democratic participation of society both in decision making and in the execution of actions. As Geldolf (1995) aptly remarks, one should invest less in the technical solution and more in direct participation of citizens.
2. Urban drainage in Santa Catarina The state of Santa Catarina (see Fig. 1), located in southern Brazil, has a surface area of about 95,000 km2 , nearly three times larger than the surface area of Netherlands or Belgium, which corresponds to 1.11% of the Brazilian territory. Its population is approximately 5 million, 73% living in urban areas. Fig. 2 shows the distribution of the municipal population. Although Santa Catarina occupies the seventh position in the composition of the Brazilian GNP having
Fig. 1. Regional situation of the state of Santa Catarina.
Fig. 2. Distribution of the municipal population.
meaningful activities in the three economic sectors, it has poor sanitation services, but for a few exceptions, restricted to just supplying of potable water and collecting household rubbish. An overview of the performance of state government agencies in relation to urban drainage points to this situation. The data presented are part of a diagnosis prepared to support the implantation of a state sanitation policy (Pomp^eo, Da Rosa & Olivetti, 1998). 2.1. Work out of the situational/institutional analysis The target of this analysis is the knowledge of the eective institutional actions in urban drainage. This was accomplished in two ways. First of all, by means of analysing the internal regulations and attributions of state governmental organisations. To complement the analysis, decision makers were interviewed and opinions of other technicians historically related to ¯ood control were also heard. During the investigation, it became clear that there is a fragmentary understanding about urban drainage and ¯ood control due to segmented points of view. As far as the administrative structure is concerned, at the same time that it presents a repetition of the regimental attributions it also shows huge gaps of operation. In the interviews, a general issue which was pointed out relates to both the importance of and the need for implementing preventive actions; all the interviewers argue, however, that the governmentÕs limited activity is due to the shortage of both human resources and equipment available to execute the necessary works. In consequence, it is observed that engineering works are performed just to meet emergency demands. Besides lacking a technical approach to tackle the real problems and the commitment to deal with them, government organs act independently of one another, ¯ow of information is remarkably restricted and partnership is rare and limited. It is possible to notice that the existing technical and administrative structure is able to perform certain actions aiming at urban ¯ood control and drainage provided some de®ciencies are solved, especially those concerning a clear de®nition of attributions based upon
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
complementary actions and institutional integration, a basic condition for water resources management. 2.2. Municipal survey on urban drainage Along with the characterisation of the state government institutional action a survey has been made on the municipalitiesÕ situation in relation to urban ¯ooding and drainage. The survey aimed at learning about both the sector organisation and the municipalityÕs main problems. General topics that could allow the assemblage of a municipal outline in drainage appropriate for the purpose of the work were chosen and information was collected in 274 out of the 293 state municipalities. In the municipal administrations the same institutional de®ciencies existing in the state are observed, and they are even worsened because of their tiny administrative structure. In about 59% of the municipalities the drainage is linked to an executive sector and about 31% of the cases are either under the municipal secretary or the works directorÕs direct responsibility. This fact characterises urban drainage as a predominantly executive action, to the detriment of a planning activity. Information about the main types of problems allowed identi®cation of extremely serious ®gures, mainly with regard to the frequency of occurrence of successive events, as shown in Table 1. Flooding due to over¯ow of streams reaches up to 76% of the municipalities yearly and in 49% such localised ¯ooding happens more than once a year. On the other hand, preventive and maintenance actions are almost a non-existent practice, since sediment removal from streams, rivers and channels is rarely done in more than 75% of the municipalities, and in more than 60% cleaning of galleries and pipelines is exceptional. It may be said that drainage is taken into consideration in just three dierent occasions: when public streets are being paved, when there are ¯oods and during the short period of time in which the causes and solutions for such inconvenience are discussed. There is no understanding about its relations with the other
157
sectors. Yet the distinction between the pluvial drainage and the household sanitary sewer systems hardly exists: 71% of the municipalities are endowed with household sewers connected to the storm sewers. In view of this information it can be concluded that, in order to establish an orientation for the sector, an integrated action supported by both the municipalities and the state is urgent. In face of the environmental crisis whose evidences strike and are correlated with all dimensions of human activities, this integrated action has to be solidly founded upon sustainability. 3. Discussion The situation of the drainage and ¯ood control sector in urban areas is a particular example of the treatment given to the management of water resources and environmental management: this situation reveals that government discourse is very distant from its practice. Beyond this diculty, the discussion of urban drainage from the point of view of sustainability is fragile, and runs the risk of returning to generalities. This is due to the fact that the three dimensions of sustainability, economic, social and ecological, allow developments of many courses of action the articulation of which is not found exclusively in the drainage and ¯ood control sector but which must be backed by coherence and relationships with broader policies. This means that no model, structure, or proposal can be ef®cient if sustainability is not considered as the result of multi-sectoral eorts. On the other hand, it is not possible to refer to one of the dimensions of sustainability without referring to the others, yet they are not equivalent to each other. Moreover, if they are seen in isolation, the logic of sustainability is lost. In any case, the elements presented here are oered to contribute to the discussion. To begin this discussion, we consider ecological sustainability, remembering that the principal goal of the ``World Conservation Strategy'' is to integrate and make
Table 1 Main drainage and ¯ooding problems observed in the municipalities Yearly
More than once a year
Every two years
Rarely
Over¯ow of streams, rivers or channels No: 24.1% (66)
Yes: 75.9% (208)
21.2% (44)
49% (102)
4.8% (10)
25% (52)
Flooding of roads due to channel over¯ow No: 33.6% (92)
Yes: 66.4% (182)
15.9% (29)
54.9% (100)
3.3% (6)
25.8% (47)
Flooding of roads due to insuciency of the drainage pipeline capacity No: 21.2% (58) Yes: 78.8% (216)
12% (26)
66.2% (143)
3.7% (8)
18.1% (39)
Existence of bridges that deteriorate the water ¯ow capacity No: 53.6% (147) Yes: 46.4% (127)
11.8% (15)
48% (61)
5.5% (7)
36.2% (46)
158
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
compatible development and conservation. Thus, the solutions for urban drainage should consider this goal, constituting themselves as opportunities for conservationist activity in the arti®cialised urban ecosystem. Conservationist actions can be built into the conception and design of alternative techniques aimed at the integration between function, in relation to coexistence with stormwater, and form, in relation to urbanism allied to the appreciation of landscape, leisure opportunities and ecology. In the direction indicated is found the urban ¯uvial corridor which by promoting the restoration of water courses and improvement in land use, recognises its potential ecological and recreational value, besides making possible the control of ¯oods and pollution, in complement to given regulations and legislation (Ellis, 1995). As pointed out by someone, sustainability is something to be kept in mind looking for its opportunities of emerging. The social aspect of sustainability can be developed along three lines: citizenship, democracy and culture. In urban drainage, and in many other areas, these three lines should be followed seeking participation as a result of information and communication. Society must have knowledge to participate on the decision making and executive levels and in the evaluation of results. The knowledge found in the community also needs to be observed within the range of alternatives that are technically considered. Environmental education, in addition to informing and generating knowledge, is capable of promoting the mobilisation of society for this participation. The following example illustrates this point of view. The large ¯ood control reservoirs, whether permanent, temporary, open or buried, are options that demand frequent and expensive maintenance at great technical eort. Source control measures, culverts, trenches, sinkholes and small domestic reservoirs also demand maintenance. Nevertheless, the technical eort is aimed at raising awareness and providing education. Increasing the participation of society and allowing it to assume its responsibilities is part of this sustainability. This follows Maytraud, Perez-Sauvagnat and Breuil (1995) who arm that it is necessary to reintegrate the concept of stormwater to the urban culture in a way that the city resident can rediscover rain in a form that is not catastrophic. Furthermore, many source control practices can have their costs better distributed and can be implemented through legislation, the establishment of norms and inspection. This does not make unviable the option for large reservoirs when they are opportunely integrated to the urban environment as parking lots and areas for sporting activities. Piel, Perez and Maytraud (1998) explain that these solutions require great attention in the construction phase, but when they are ready they do not require special care, consequently reducing the costs
over the long term. They are economically sustainable solutions. By addressing the economic factor we enter a heated debate. How to charge? How much to charge? Who pays? The theme is often reduced to ®nancial questions. Debo (1998) discusses nine (!) possible methods for ®nancing urban drainage management but emphasises that the ®nancial resources that are secured must be protected from political pressures that may attempt to steer them to other sectors when the problems related to ¯oods and drainage are not apparent. He also adds that the source of ®nancing must be dedicated to drainage, oering sucient resources over the long term and allowing for planning to take place. Therefore, the recognition of the importance of drainage precedes the establishment of the form of ®nancing. There is no way to seek eciency in a set of disconnected engineering works or among projects that are poorly linked, that were undertaken merely to correct emergency situations. There is no way to establish forms for economic and ®nancial sustainability for something that is not considered important. The intended recognition, whether found on the level of the citizen or in the priority of the administrator, also passes through the perception resulting from awareness, education and commitment to the public good. Social sustainability is economic sustainability is political sustainability. It is now necessary to further discuss the institutional organisation. To better understand the theme let us ®rst look at the management form found among the utilities that are common in the United States. According to WebsterÕs dictionary (1971 edition), a utility can be a ``business organisation performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulation''. Cyre and Reese (1992) place them as a sector which has a form of management that includes institutional centralisation in the goal of urban drainage (consolidating responsibilities that were previously distributed through various departments), the planning of measures for the solution and prevention of problems (and not simply their confrontation), the generation of a stable and appropriate source of funds exclusive for the sectors (based on physical attributes of each property such as size, land use, impervious surfaces, intensity of development and the resulting peak runo and volumes discharged) and the establishment visibility for the sector (social awareness of drainage). The same authors arm that drainage services organised in this manner represent a trend in government ®nancing that fails to charge rates based on the value of the property, and charges in relation to the demand that is placed (by the property) on the public services. The drainage service thus becomes viable because it allows the ®nancing for the sector which was not attended in the traditional rate structure on the property.
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
The creation of an institution dedicated exclusively to drainage apparently contradicts the management of water in the urban environment. Andoh and Smisson (1995) recall that the institutional fragmentation found in the handling of the urban water cycle leads to situations where the euent generated under the jurisdiction of one institution winds up being released into a receiving body of water by means of a system under the jurisdiction of another institution. They suggest that to handle the urban water cycle, taking into consideration water supply, wastewater sewerage, water conservation and coexistence with stormwater, the limits of administrative action must be established by at least giving consideration to the hydrographic basin. And concerning management? In sanitation we have institutions with speci®c activities; to desire to bring them all together would not be sensible, the administration of the multiplicity of functions does not allow it. There are operational sectors involved that are very distinct. To undo this contradiction of the institutional fragmentation it is necessary to seek an integration strategy. Each agent must know the role of the other agents, so that the points of view relative to water in the urban environment can be better understood. Thus, in the ®rst place, there is the need for a ¯ow of information, communication and relationships. Secondly, the large objectives must be identi®ed as common goals through broad agreements. But, it is of capital importance that the deliberations for common agreements be projected within the activities of each institution, and sustainability is a broad agreement. Furthermore, the ¯ow of information facilitates the partnerships and plans sustainability into the action. The partnership constructed over the common objectives becomes the best strategy for public administrative. This partnership extends to the private initiative and to civil society. One cannot be naive: the diculties in this process are large and they are political. The discussion concerning institutional action leads us once again to a re¯ection about the importance of dissemination of knowledge and environmental education. For a strategy of institutional articulation to be eective, it is necessary to guarantee the information ¯ow and a common understanding of the problems. On one hand, the continuous improvement of the processes concerning runo and the coexistence with stormwater in urban areas requires the education and training of human resources for undertaking of activities at all the levels of action. This means that tools must be de®ned that can oer suitable information to allow an understanding of and the handling of problems. It is very common for training processes to be conducted for planning construction engineering projects. Nevertheless, it is not common to train technicians in the operational sectors (cleaning and maintenance) and even those responsible for inspection of construction projects
159
for the compliance with legal measures and land use norms. The education for the responsible undertaking of these activities is very important because it is part of the preventative actions for dealing with ¯oods. On the other hand, this common understanding begins at ®rst from the recognition of problems, and of their legitimacy, by all of those that are involved. Environmental education must then ¯ow through the technical level (planning, execution, operation and systems maintenance), in decision making circles and in the political realm.
4. Final comments An overview of the absence of governmental action, similar to that which was presented for Santa Catarina state, indicates that this absence will surely continue if reorienting principles which can change this situation on some horizon are not applied. To show the urgent need for the establishment of a policy for the sector, one need to only look at the frequency of natural disasters in the municipalities in the state. Sustainability points to the reintegration of water in the urban environment, working together with the hydrological cycle, observing ecological, environmental, landscape and recreation opportunities. For this reason, engineering must be more than ingenious; it must be generous. Constructive attitudes are necessary in various forms, most of them not directly and ostensibly related to drainage engineering works. The establishment of means of ®nancing that can guarantee permanent and direct action in long-term programs is fundamental. Financial resources must consider priorities that not only seek technical eciency but also social satisfaction. These resources must be utilised to establish a response in which the eort from society is a very signi®cant part of the activity and not only for a technically ecient construction project. Concerning management, independent from the institutional arrangement, it is necessary to recognise that urban drainage is part of a management system and not only sparse ¯ood control engineering works de®ned after a problem arises. Sustainability must be on the agenda of every action and thus must be sought in a place of including articulation, wherein all our negotiation capabilities, acceptation of dierences and diculties, rights and duties must be present, besides the exigency of abundance of creativity and sound sense. References Andoh, R. Y. G., & Smisson, R. P. M. (1995). Alternative urban drainage strategy utilising the single pipe system. In Proceedings of
160
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 189±196). Lyon, France. Cyre, H., & Reese, A. J. (1992). Storm water utilities in the United States of America. In Proceedings of the ®rst international conference on innovative technologies in the domain of urban storm water drainage (pp. 505±511). Lyon, France. Debo, T. N. (1998). Funding stormwater management programs through public utilities. In Proceedings of the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 289±296). Lyon, France. Ellis, J. B. (1995). Sustainable integrated development of storm drainage in urban landscapes. In Proceedings of the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 19±25). Lyon, France. Geldolf, G. D. (1995). Adaptative water management: integrated water management on the edge of chaos. Water Science and Technology, 32 (1), 7±13. Genz, F., & Tucci, C. E. M. (1995). Controle do escoamento em um lote urbano. Revista Brasileira de Engenharia, Caderno de Recursos Hõdricos, 13 (1), 129±152. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Maytraud, T., Perez-Sauvagnat, I., & Breuil, B. (1995). Le service public et la promotion des techniques alternatives, trois contreprojets pour avancer. In Proceedings of the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 463±470). Lyon, France. Nascimento, N. O., Batista, M. B., & De Souza, V. C. B. (1997). ~es comSistema hidrourb para o pre-dimensionamento de solucßo pensat orias em drenagem urbana. In Proceedings of the XII simp osio brasileiro de recursos hõdricos (XII Brazilian symposium on water resources ± Brazilian Association on Water Resources ± ABRH). CD-Rom, paper no. 330, Vit oria, Brazil. Piel, C., Perez, I., & Maytraud, T. (1998). In Proceedings of the third international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage, vol. 1 (pp. 165±171). Lyon, France. Pomp^eo, C. A., Da Rosa, F. Z., & Olivetti, S. M. P. (1998). Urban drainage diagnosis in Santa Catarina state (Brazil). In Proceedings of the workshop on nonstructural ¯ood control. S~ ao Paulo, Brazil: IRTCUD/UNESCO.
www.elsevier.com/locate/urbwat
Case study
Development of a state policy for sustainable urban drainage Cesar Augusto Pomp^eo * Departamento de Engenharia Sanit aria e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, CP 476, Campus Universitario, CEP 88040-900 Florian opolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil Received 31 July 1999; received in revised form 7 January 2000; accepted 25 January 2000
Abstract A survey of state and municipal administrationsÕ performance on urban ¯ood control and drainage is presented as a basis for discussing urban stormwater and sustainability. The investigation was done as part of a strategy for the development and implantation of a sanitation policy in the state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sustainable urban drainage; Urban drainage policy; Institutional organisation
1. Introduction What can be done in order to formulate and establish a state sanitation policy? The work presented here deals with this question. It is targeted at proposing some principles that may contribute to directing government action in the urban drainage sector, taking the present context of a public policy as well as speci®c technical elements into consideration, under the perspective of sustainability. Although this analysis may, at a ®rst sight, seem limited, it addresses many questions which express a more general situation, whose understanding is essential for implementing both the state sanitation policy and the state water resources policy. During the last 30 years the principles which guide urban stormwater control have changed. It was noticed that rapidly removing water accumulated in urbanised areas ended up just by transferring the problem either towards other areas or to the future. Other ways of tackling the problems have arisen. Flood plains have become subject to planning, placing constraints upon both their occupation and the types of works to be carried out, mainly aimed at ensuring the necessary ¯owing cross-section. The named compensatory measures that search for compensating the urbanisation effects over the hydrological processes have been introduced (Nascimento, Batista & De Souza, 1997). Detention reservoirs have been designed under the principles of compensatory measures for water collection *
Tel.: 55-48-331-9717; fax: 55-48-331-9770
and ¯ood control in urban areas; nevertheless, their costs are too high. Source control, introduced during the eighties, is another technique aimed at temporary storage in urban lots for ¯ow reduction and, when reduction of volumes is required, it associates in®ltration techniques (Genz & Tucci, 1995). The use of source control is delicate given that it requires installations in all of the individual properties and permanent maintenance by the resident. Besides this, source control implies not only the execution of diuse works but, mainly, assuming a new technological attitude with respect to the development of new paving materials, with norms set for its utilisation and for the occupation of public and private spaces. The term sustainable urban drainage is of recent origin. For the past three decades the perception of generalised environmental degradation, and the criticism of the styles of development based on an irrational exploration of nature have motivated numerous discussions and new proposals to allow the survival of human beings. Those who are very optimistic do not recognise the extent of these problems and prefer to ignore them, believing that some technical solution will arise in the future. Others, who are more realistic, warn that earth is the only known inhabited planet, and prefer to make proposals right away. Guided by this thinking sustainable development arose, a style of development aimed at sustainability, a concept that can be universally applied, including to urban drainage. The perspective of sustainability in relation to urban drainage introduces a new way of directing actions, based upon the recognition of the complexity of the relationships among the natural ecosystem, the arti®cial
1462-0758/00/$ - see front matter Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 4 6 2 - 0 7 5 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 3 - 0
156
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
urban system and society. This position demands that drainage and ¯ood control in urban areas be reconceptualised in technical and managerial terms. Urban planning, when it does exist, usually disregards the fact that the historical absence of integrated and harmonious solutions among the urban and the natural systems is also a signi®cant factor for the occurrence of frequent ¯ooding. Planning of urban activities related to water must be integrated into urban planning itself, including the planning of the urban grid and its expansion, the zoning of activities, the road and transport network, landscape aspects and other issues. The institutional integration must be the re¯ection of a systemic environmental conception. In this way, it is necessary to consider that management of water in urban environments is a special case of water resources management. Institutional action should integrate, on one hand, water resources management, and on the other, urban environmental sanitation. Equally important, the participation of society is referred to as an essential ingredient in tracing the route of sustainable development, as has been exhaustively mentioned in recent environmental literature. This means that the technology which accompanies sustainable development should also be socially sustainable, which entails democratic participation of society both in decision making and in the execution of actions. As Geldolf (1995) aptly remarks, one should invest less in the technical solution and more in direct participation of citizens.
2. Urban drainage in Santa Catarina The state of Santa Catarina (see Fig. 1), located in southern Brazil, has a surface area of about 95,000 km2 , nearly three times larger than the surface area of Netherlands or Belgium, which corresponds to 1.11% of the Brazilian territory. Its population is approximately 5 million, 73% living in urban areas. Fig. 2 shows the distribution of the municipal population. Although Santa Catarina occupies the seventh position in the composition of the Brazilian GNP having
Fig. 1. Regional situation of the state of Santa Catarina.
Fig. 2. Distribution of the municipal population.
meaningful activities in the three economic sectors, it has poor sanitation services, but for a few exceptions, restricted to just supplying of potable water and collecting household rubbish. An overview of the performance of state government agencies in relation to urban drainage points to this situation. The data presented are part of a diagnosis prepared to support the implantation of a state sanitation policy (Pomp^eo, Da Rosa & Olivetti, 1998). 2.1. Work out of the situational/institutional analysis The target of this analysis is the knowledge of the eective institutional actions in urban drainage. This was accomplished in two ways. First of all, by means of analysing the internal regulations and attributions of state governmental organisations. To complement the analysis, decision makers were interviewed and opinions of other technicians historically related to ¯ood control were also heard. During the investigation, it became clear that there is a fragmentary understanding about urban drainage and ¯ood control due to segmented points of view. As far as the administrative structure is concerned, at the same time that it presents a repetition of the regimental attributions it also shows huge gaps of operation. In the interviews, a general issue which was pointed out relates to both the importance of and the need for implementing preventive actions; all the interviewers argue, however, that the governmentÕs limited activity is due to the shortage of both human resources and equipment available to execute the necessary works. In consequence, it is observed that engineering works are performed just to meet emergency demands. Besides lacking a technical approach to tackle the real problems and the commitment to deal with them, government organs act independently of one another, ¯ow of information is remarkably restricted and partnership is rare and limited. It is possible to notice that the existing technical and administrative structure is able to perform certain actions aiming at urban ¯ood control and drainage provided some de®ciencies are solved, especially those concerning a clear de®nition of attributions based upon
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
complementary actions and institutional integration, a basic condition for water resources management. 2.2. Municipal survey on urban drainage Along with the characterisation of the state government institutional action a survey has been made on the municipalitiesÕ situation in relation to urban ¯ooding and drainage. The survey aimed at learning about both the sector organisation and the municipalityÕs main problems. General topics that could allow the assemblage of a municipal outline in drainage appropriate for the purpose of the work were chosen and information was collected in 274 out of the 293 state municipalities. In the municipal administrations the same institutional de®ciencies existing in the state are observed, and they are even worsened because of their tiny administrative structure. In about 59% of the municipalities the drainage is linked to an executive sector and about 31% of the cases are either under the municipal secretary or the works directorÕs direct responsibility. This fact characterises urban drainage as a predominantly executive action, to the detriment of a planning activity. Information about the main types of problems allowed identi®cation of extremely serious ®gures, mainly with regard to the frequency of occurrence of successive events, as shown in Table 1. Flooding due to over¯ow of streams reaches up to 76% of the municipalities yearly and in 49% such localised ¯ooding happens more than once a year. On the other hand, preventive and maintenance actions are almost a non-existent practice, since sediment removal from streams, rivers and channels is rarely done in more than 75% of the municipalities, and in more than 60% cleaning of galleries and pipelines is exceptional. It may be said that drainage is taken into consideration in just three dierent occasions: when public streets are being paved, when there are ¯oods and during the short period of time in which the causes and solutions for such inconvenience are discussed. There is no understanding about its relations with the other
157
sectors. Yet the distinction between the pluvial drainage and the household sanitary sewer systems hardly exists: 71% of the municipalities are endowed with household sewers connected to the storm sewers. In view of this information it can be concluded that, in order to establish an orientation for the sector, an integrated action supported by both the municipalities and the state is urgent. In face of the environmental crisis whose evidences strike and are correlated with all dimensions of human activities, this integrated action has to be solidly founded upon sustainability. 3. Discussion The situation of the drainage and ¯ood control sector in urban areas is a particular example of the treatment given to the management of water resources and environmental management: this situation reveals that government discourse is very distant from its practice. Beyond this diculty, the discussion of urban drainage from the point of view of sustainability is fragile, and runs the risk of returning to generalities. This is due to the fact that the three dimensions of sustainability, economic, social and ecological, allow developments of many courses of action the articulation of which is not found exclusively in the drainage and ¯ood control sector but which must be backed by coherence and relationships with broader policies. This means that no model, structure, or proposal can be ef®cient if sustainability is not considered as the result of multi-sectoral eorts. On the other hand, it is not possible to refer to one of the dimensions of sustainability without referring to the others, yet they are not equivalent to each other. Moreover, if they are seen in isolation, the logic of sustainability is lost. In any case, the elements presented here are oered to contribute to the discussion. To begin this discussion, we consider ecological sustainability, remembering that the principal goal of the ``World Conservation Strategy'' is to integrate and make
Table 1 Main drainage and ¯ooding problems observed in the municipalities Yearly
More than once a year
Every two years
Rarely
Over¯ow of streams, rivers or channels No: 24.1% (66)
Yes: 75.9% (208)
21.2% (44)
49% (102)
4.8% (10)
25% (52)
Flooding of roads due to channel over¯ow No: 33.6% (92)
Yes: 66.4% (182)
15.9% (29)
54.9% (100)
3.3% (6)
25.8% (47)
Flooding of roads due to insuciency of the drainage pipeline capacity No: 21.2% (58) Yes: 78.8% (216)
12% (26)
66.2% (143)
3.7% (8)
18.1% (39)
Existence of bridges that deteriorate the water ¯ow capacity No: 53.6% (147) Yes: 46.4% (127)
11.8% (15)
48% (61)
5.5% (7)
36.2% (46)
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compatible development and conservation. Thus, the solutions for urban drainage should consider this goal, constituting themselves as opportunities for conservationist activity in the arti®cialised urban ecosystem. Conservationist actions can be built into the conception and design of alternative techniques aimed at the integration between function, in relation to coexistence with stormwater, and form, in relation to urbanism allied to the appreciation of landscape, leisure opportunities and ecology. In the direction indicated is found the urban ¯uvial corridor which by promoting the restoration of water courses and improvement in land use, recognises its potential ecological and recreational value, besides making possible the control of ¯oods and pollution, in complement to given regulations and legislation (Ellis, 1995). As pointed out by someone, sustainability is something to be kept in mind looking for its opportunities of emerging. The social aspect of sustainability can be developed along three lines: citizenship, democracy and culture. In urban drainage, and in many other areas, these three lines should be followed seeking participation as a result of information and communication. Society must have knowledge to participate on the decision making and executive levels and in the evaluation of results. The knowledge found in the community also needs to be observed within the range of alternatives that are technically considered. Environmental education, in addition to informing and generating knowledge, is capable of promoting the mobilisation of society for this participation. The following example illustrates this point of view. The large ¯ood control reservoirs, whether permanent, temporary, open or buried, are options that demand frequent and expensive maintenance at great technical eort. Source control measures, culverts, trenches, sinkholes and small domestic reservoirs also demand maintenance. Nevertheless, the technical eort is aimed at raising awareness and providing education. Increasing the participation of society and allowing it to assume its responsibilities is part of this sustainability. This follows Maytraud, Perez-Sauvagnat and Breuil (1995) who arm that it is necessary to reintegrate the concept of stormwater to the urban culture in a way that the city resident can rediscover rain in a form that is not catastrophic. Furthermore, many source control practices can have their costs better distributed and can be implemented through legislation, the establishment of norms and inspection. This does not make unviable the option for large reservoirs when they are opportunely integrated to the urban environment as parking lots and areas for sporting activities. Piel, Perez and Maytraud (1998) explain that these solutions require great attention in the construction phase, but when they are ready they do not require special care, consequently reducing the costs
over the long term. They are economically sustainable solutions. By addressing the economic factor we enter a heated debate. How to charge? How much to charge? Who pays? The theme is often reduced to ®nancial questions. Debo (1998) discusses nine (!) possible methods for ®nancing urban drainage management but emphasises that the ®nancial resources that are secured must be protected from political pressures that may attempt to steer them to other sectors when the problems related to ¯oods and drainage are not apparent. He also adds that the source of ®nancing must be dedicated to drainage, oering sucient resources over the long term and allowing for planning to take place. Therefore, the recognition of the importance of drainage precedes the establishment of the form of ®nancing. There is no way to seek eciency in a set of disconnected engineering works or among projects that are poorly linked, that were undertaken merely to correct emergency situations. There is no way to establish forms for economic and ®nancial sustainability for something that is not considered important. The intended recognition, whether found on the level of the citizen or in the priority of the administrator, also passes through the perception resulting from awareness, education and commitment to the public good. Social sustainability is economic sustainability is political sustainability. It is now necessary to further discuss the institutional organisation. To better understand the theme let us ®rst look at the management form found among the utilities that are common in the United States. According to WebsterÕs dictionary (1971 edition), a utility can be a ``business organisation performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulation''. Cyre and Reese (1992) place them as a sector which has a form of management that includes institutional centralisation in the goal of urban drainage (consolidating responsibilities that were previously distributed through various departments), the planning of measures for the solution and prevention of problems (and not simply their confrontation), the generation of a stable and appropriate source of funds exclusive for the sectors (based on physical attributes of each property such as size, land use, impervious surfaces, intensity of development and the resulting peak runo and volumes discharged) and the establishment visibility for the sector (social awareness of drainage). The same authors arm that drainage services organised in this manner represent a trend in government ®nancing that fails to charge rates based on the value of the property, and charges in relation to the demand that is placed (by the property) on the public services. The drainage service thus becomes viable because it allows the ®nancing for the sector which was not attended in the traditional rate structure on the property.
C. Augusto Pomp^eo / Urban Water 1 (1999) 155±160
The creation of an institution dedicated exclusively to drainage apparently contradicts the management of water in the urban environment. Andoh and Smisson (1995) recall that the institutional fragmentation found in the handling of the urban water cycle leads to situations where the euent generated under the jurisdiction of one institution winds up being released into a receiving body of water by means of a system under the jurisdiction of another institution. They suggest that to handle the urban water cycle, taking into consideration water supply, wastewater sewerage, water conservation and coexistence with stormwater, the limits of administrative action must be established by at least giving consideration to the hydrographic basin. And concerning management? In sanitation we have institutions with speci®c activities; to desire to bring them all together would not be sensible, the administration of the multiplicity of functions does not allow it. There are operational sectors involved that are very distinct. To undo this contradiction of the institutional fragmentation it is necessary to seek an integration strategy. Each agent must know the role of the other agents, so that the points of view relative to water in the urban environment can be better understood. Thus, in the ®rst place, there is the need for a ¯ow of information, communication and relationships. Secondly, the large objectives must be identi®ed as common goals through broad agreements. But, it is of capital importance that the deliberations for common agreements be projected within the activities of each institution, and sustainability is a broad agreement. Furthermore, the ¯ow of information facilitates the partnerships and plans sustainability into the action. The partnership constructed over the common objectives becomes the best strategy for public administrative. This partnership extends to the private initiative and to civil society. One cannot be naive: the diculties in this process are large and they are political. The discussion concerning institutional action leads us once again to a re¯ection about the importance of dissemination of knowledge and environmental education. For a strategy of institutional articulation to be eective, it is necessary to guarantee the information ¯ow and a common understanding of the problems. On one hand, the continuous improvement of the processes concerning runo and the coexistence with stormwater in urban areas requires the education and training of human resources for undertaking of activities at all the levels of action. This means that tools must be de®ned that can oer suitable information to allow an understanding of and the handling of problems. It is very common for training processes to be conducted for planning construction engineering projects. Nevertheless, it is not common to train technicians in the operational sectors (cleaning and maintenance) and even those responsible for inspection of construction projects
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for the compliance with legal measures and land use norms. The education for the responsible undertaking of these activities is very important because it is part of the preventative actions for dealing with ¯oods. On the other hand, this common understanding begins at ®rst from the recognition of problems, and of their legitimacy, by all of those that are involved. Environmental education must then ¯ow through the technical level (planning, execution, operation and systems maintenance), in decision making circles and in the political realm.
4. Final comments An overview of the absence of governmental action, similar to that which was presented for Santa Catarina state, indicates that this absence will surely continue if reorienting principles which can change this situation on some horizon are not applied. To show the urgent need for the establishment of a policy for the sector, one need to only look at the frequency of natural disasters in the municipalities in the state. Sustainability points to the reintegration of water in the urban environment, working together with the hydrological cycle, observing ecological, environmental, landscape and recreation opportunities. For this reason, engineering must be more than ingenious; it must be generous. Constructive attitudes are necessary in various forms, most of them not directly and ostensibly related to drainage engineering works. The establishment of means of ®nancing that can guarantee permanent and direct action in long-term programs is fundamental. Financial resources must consider priorities that not only seek technical eciency but also social satisfaction. These resources must be utilised to establish a response in which the eort from society is a very signi®cant part of the activity and not only for a technically ecient construction project. Concerning management, independent from the institutional arrangement, it is necessary to recognise that urban drainage is part of a management system and not only sparse ¯ood control engineering works de®ned after a problem arises. Sustainability must be on the agenda of every action and thus must be sought in a place of including articulation, wherein all our negotiation capabilities, acceptation of dierences and diculties, rights and duties must be present, besides the exigency of abundance of creativity and sound sense. References Andoh, R. Y. G., & Smisson, R. P. M. (1995). Alternative urban drainage strategy utilising the single pipe system. In Proceedings of
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the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 189±196). Lyon, France. Cyre, H., & Reese, A. J. (1992). Storm water utilities in the United States of America. In Proceedings of the ®rst international conference on innovative technologies in the domain of urban storm water drainage (pp. 505±511). Lyon, France. Debo, T. N. (1998). Funding stormwater management programs through public utilities. In Proceedings of the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 289±296). Lyon, France. Ellis, J. B. (1995). Sustainable integrated development of storm drainage in urban landscapes. In Proceedings of the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 19±25). Lyon, France. Geldolf, G. D. (1995). Adaptative water management: integrated water management on the edge of chaos. Water Science and Technology, 32 (1), 7±13. Genz, F., & Tucci, C. E. M. (1995). Controle do escoamento em um lote urbano. Revista Brasileira de Engenharia, Caderno de Recursos Hõdricos, 13 (1), 129±152. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Maytraud, T., Perez-Sauvagnat, I., & Breuil, B. (1995). Le service public et la promotion des techniques alternatives, trois contreprojets pour avancer. In Proceedings of the second international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage (pp. 463±470). Lyon, France. Nascimento, N. O., Batista, M. B., & De Souza, V. C. B. (1997). ~es comSistema hidrourb para o pre-dimensionamento de solucßo pensat orias em drenagem urbana. In Proceedings of the XII simp osio brasileiro de recursos hõdricos (XII Brazilian symposium on water resources ± Brazilian Association on Water Resources ± ABRH). CD-Rom, paper no. 330, Vit oria, Brazil. Piel, C., Perez, I., & Maytraud, T. (1998). In Proceedings of the third international conference on innovative technologies in urban storm drainage, vol. 1 (pp. 165±171). Lyon, France. Pomp^eo, C. A., Da Rosa, F. Z., & Olivetti, S. M. P. (1998). Urban drainage diagnosis in Santa Catarina state (Brazil). In Proceedings of the workshop on nonstructural ¯ood control. S~ ao Paulo, Brazil: IRTCUD/UNESCO.