Rio's Floodscapes: Green Infrastructure for tropical flood zones

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RIO’S FLOODSCAPES GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR TROPICAL FLOOD ZONES

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TORRENTIAL RAINS IN THE TROPICS Urbanized tropical floodwaters are a recurring problem in several areas of the globe, where in the summer and late summer seasons high concentrations of rainfall occur in a short period of time.

Prior to human occupations, these places

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil 2011.

With its worst natural disaster in more than four decades, a calamitous collapse of rainsoaked hillsides near Rio killed nearly 400 people.

served as natural buffer zones, exerting two essential environmental services: The first to brake, reduce the speed and flow of rivers and surface waters that came from areas of high declivity and the second to create pockets of water / water where water is retained for the

KERALA, India. 2018.

ABC NEWS-19 Aug 2018 - Rescuers evacuate people in flooded Kerala. Photo:Reuters -Sivaram V.

FLOOD OCCURENCE IN TROPICAL ZONES AND TROPICAL HURRICANES MAIN ROTES LEGEND: PHOTOS: ¹ Brazil Thursday was grappling with its worst natural disaster in more than four Tropical zone limits decades, a calamitous collapse of rain-soaked hillsides near Rio that killed nearly 400 people.

Tropical Hurricanes Rotes Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 13, 2011. AFP PHOTO Rio de Janeiro’s gov.

Flooded deciles 1st-4th ²ABC NEWS-19 Aug 2018 - Rescuers evacuate people in flooded Kerala.

Flooded deciles 5th-7th Photo:Reuters -Sivaram V. *India monsoon floods kill 73 in Kerala. WEBSITE: <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45205516>Visited in: 30/07/2019.

Flooded deciles 8th-10th <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-19/india-floods-in-kerala-kill-hundreds-and-displace-800000/10137934>Visited at: 07/30/2019. ³BBC.COM Indonesia floods: Rains causes chaos in Jakarta.

17/01/2013. WEBSITE<https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-21065623/ indonesia-floods-rains-causes-chaos-in-jakarta> Visited at: 07/30/2019.

maintenance and recharge of groundwater and aquifers. In addition, it is a zone of high accumulation of sediments and nutrients, which makes the soil rich in nutrients, essential for the maintenance of local biodiversity.

JAKARTA, Indonesia. 2013.

BBC.COM Indonesia floods: Rains causes chaos in Jakarta. Published in: 17/01/2013.

REFERENCES: MET Office. Tropical cyclone facts. Available in: <https://www.metoffice.gov. uk/research/weather/tropical-cyclones/facts#Further information> visited at: 08/05/2019.

S. Farooq. Floods Occurrence and Distributios. Aligarh Muslim University,Department of Geology. Aligarh, India. Available in: < http://www.geolamu.org/notes/be1a-3-1.htm >visited at: 08/05/2019.

Based on S. Farooq. Global Flood Hazard Distribution. As mentioned by Mr. Farooq, The dataset used for his map is taken from the Dartmouth Flood Observatory’s global listing of extreme flood events compiled from various sources for the 19-year period from 1985 to 2003. Some degree of flooding is evident in more than one-third of the world’s land areas.

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LOOSING NATURAL DRAINAGE AREAS How to detect high risk flood zones and design the priority areas for drainage zones and green infrastructure?

At the beginning of human settlements, these riparian forests of northern Brazil. Particular- In the twentieth century, with land reclamation nutrient rich areas and water accumulation ly in Rio de Janeiro and southeastern Brazil, we and rapid urbanization, these areas were wawere highly valued for agricultural activities, have the presence of fruit of Jabuticaba (Myr- terproofed and transformed into urban land, such as rice plantations in Southeast Asian es- ciaria truniflora), bananas and guava (psidium with low soil permeability and accumulation of tuarine areas or palmettos (euterpe edulis) in guajava). water and flooding in the historic rainy season.

Meriti River Estuary Z-03

Guaratiba Rural Lands Vargens Lowlands

NATURALLY FLOOD ZONES A 1854 official map shows Rio’s lowlands areas as wetlands, desertic and sandy parts. Map from the Archival of Rio de Janeiro Municipality.

GUARATIBA LOWLANDS VARGENS LOWLANDS From the Tupy indigenous Guará+Tyvá means “place In 1854 the Vargens site was characterized were are herons in abundance”. Originally very hu- as Wetlands, desertic and sandy parts. mid, had drainage alterations with rectified rivers.

MERITI-PAVUNA ESTUARY The current area of Pavuna-Merity neighborhood are landsfills between ancient mangrooves and small islands.

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DESIGNING GREEN AREAS TO REACTIVATE NATURAL DRAINAGE ZONES The proposal aims to create strategies to identify the priority areas for urban drainage zones and propose guidelines for the creation of green infrastructure with drainage performances in tropical torrential rains, based on 3 principles:

1- To reduce the water flow rate absorbing part of the water;

2- To consider the rise of the sea level in the watercourse;

3- rainwater ponds with water pretreatment, targeting to the final water bodies.

ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS Rio de Janeiro lowlands: swampy areas, susceptible to flooding and urban grownt to environmental fragile areas

BORDERS OF PIRAQUE RIVER

FLOOD IN JACAREPAGUÁ

BORDERS OF MERITI RIVER

Borders of the Piraque River, the largest river in the Guaratiba Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1998. Stormwaters floods the streets A local resident toward his home. Irregular housings on swampy Region. To the left favela’s Pedra de Guaratiba, at the right a of Jacarepaguá Neighborhood, nearby Vargens studied area. areas routinely use the abundance of creeks to sewage drain.

Jornal O Globo (Local newspaper) Photo by: Dominic Peixoto.

Military Reserve. Photo: Google Earth Pro. Photo by: Augusto Santos, PROURB/UFRJ.

Area-02 Vargens Urban Park

Area-03 Meriti River Estuary

Area-01 Guaratiba Ecological Park

RIO HUMID ECOSYSTEMS The city of Rio is situated in a hotspot where the three main local ecosystems of southeastern Brazil are connected. Thus there is still a considerable flow of fauna and flora among the ecosystems fragments.

Spartina

Gavião-deMico leão dourado Macaco Prego Cabeça-Cinza Leontopithecus rosalia Sapajus apella Leptodon cayanensis

Bicho Preguica Folivora

TROPICAL FOREST

Bracanjuva Brycon orbignyanus

Lobo-Guará Chrysocyon brachyurus

Cachorro-do-Mato Onça-Pintada Cerdocyon thous Panthera onca

Tucano Toco Ramphastos toco

Urubu-Rei Sarcoramphus papa

Tamanduá bandeira Shialulia ascandia

Tatu Tolypeutes tricinctus

RESTINGA

Jacaré papo amarelo Caiman latirostris

Peixe-Anual Austrolebias adloffi

Garça Branca grande Ardea alba

urubu cabeça preta Coragyps atratus

Garça vermelha Ardea purpurea

MANGROOVES

Capivara Shialulia ascandia

mão pelada Procyon cancrivorus

caranguejo uçá Ucides cordatus

tainha Mugil cephalus

robalo branco Centropomus undecimalis

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AREA 1: GUARATIBA NATURAL PARK Guaratiba is a mostly virgin neighborhood located along the Western fringes of Rio de Janeiro’s coastline. Despite being Rio’s largest neighborhood in area, it holds one of the city’s lowest population density indexes. Guarati-

ba’s roughly 110,000 residents are grouped into three highly urbanized clusters separated from one another by the Guaratiba Biological Reserve, a 3.360 hectare expanse of mangrove and wetlands said to be the best preserved of

it’s kind in the entire state.

Due to its scale and ecological fragility, the perimeter of the Reserve is fenced and monitored by the Brazilian armed forces.

GUARATIBA Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Mountain Runoff (Reynold Flows) laminar transition turbulent SOIL USE

VEGETATION TYPES Mangroove Restinga Restinga with sandy deposit Tropical Forest

B

F

B

D

A C

D GREEN CONECTIONS River Range Protection Park Area National Protection Area High permeability housing Med. permeability housing

C

F

B

C

E

20

20

20

19 09 08

E

19 01 10 E 09

18

12

Hidrological Design Strategies Swampy Ground

19 16

Waterbasins A

21

B

15

07

C D

09

08

E F

05 20

13 19

11

11

11

Mountain Runoff (Reynold Flows) laminar transition turbulent

01

14 20

03

17 14

04

Beach Riverside Natural River Rainwater pond Filtering Garden Swampy Beach Renaturalized Waterborder

04

06

Watersheds Sub-basins Waterflows

Master Plan PARK INTERESTED POINTS 01 Ecological teaching point 02 Trail 03 Birds Observatory 04 Meeting of waters 05 Viewpoint 06 Educational Facilities 07 River beach 08 Natural River

09 Rain Pond 10 Filtration Garden 11 Mangroove Beach 12 Renaturalized border 13 Sportive deck 14 Elevated Walkways 15 Park Headquartes 16 Water spring

URBAN INTERESTED POINTS 17 Gastronomy 18 Military Training Center (CETEX) 19 Residential Neighborhood 20 Comercial buildings 21 Sitio Burle Marx

HIDROLOGICAL DESIGN STRATEGIES A B C D E F

Beach Riverside Natural River Rainwater pond Filtering Garden Swampy Beach Renaturalized Waterborder

Flood Prone Areas 1,0m 1,5m 2,0m water spring

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AREA 2: VARGENS URBAN PARK With the creation of the Vargens Urban Park, Rio’s periphery stands to gain a public space whose scale and nature - both literal and figu-

01. Level Curves

02. TIN Surfaces

03. Public Data

04. Density

05. Ortophoto

06. Hidrography

07. Water Sheds

09. Elevation

rative - currently do not exist beyond the reach of the city’s sharply concentrated touristic circuit. This project firmly believe that this kind of

intervention will shine a light on an extensive territory within the city that currently goes unnoticed and uncared for, unbeknownst even to most cariocas.

From left to right Studies of flooding in quotas of 0,75 m; 1,5 m; 2.25 m; and 3 meters; and a study of sub-basins and main flow arrows by topographical and current not constructed sites.

08. Rainfall

0<45º 0>45º

A 1854 official map shows the study area as wetlands, desertic and sandy parts.

Archival of The Rio de Janeiro Municipality.

10. Slopes

0>05% 5>10% 10>45% 45>90%

0 - 200m 200 - 500m 500 - 700m

11. Solar Guidance

North South East West

12. Runoff (Reynolds flow)

laminar transition turbulent

13. Flooding Zones

14. Landslide Risk

+ 1,50 m + 0,75 m + 0,00 m

15. Current Green Areas

16. Proposed Protected Areas

Water flows diagram based on the Runoff, Flooding Zones and Local Water Sheds analyses.

sloping permeability elevated

01

01

Draining services in Public spaces

02

03

04

05

03

06

04

06

05

03

River edge park Regeneration of local vegetation and soil permeability on the water border line;

03

01

01

Artificial Islands

05

Modular islands on rivers junction areas to decrease the intensive water flow;

Public areas designed with levels, vegetation, ground covers, draining pavement to retain rainfall waters; 02

02

04

Renaturalized Canals A superficial Water drainage system designed to slow the intensity of stormwaters flow;

Lowlands Areas Temporary flooded areas;

06

Phytotreatment Lakes A phytodepuration urban water treatment system, similar to a second level treatment system.*

* Treatment stages: 1 Grating: Scirpus californicus - “Junco”; 2- Decanting; 3- Containment of superficial impurities: Hydrocleys nymphoidess - “Amapolita del agua”; 4- Phytoremediation of organic compounds and nutrients excess: Eichhornia crassipes - “El Camalote”, 5- pH adjustment: Thalia dealbata – “Pehuajos”; 6- water oxygenation.

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AREA 3: MERITI RIVER ESTUARY Most of the land alongside the Meriti-Pavuna River is in low elevations, with low soil permeability and few free areas, which also aggravate heat island effects. Most of the urban occupa-

tions occur at the riverbanks, where ideally they should be permanent protection areas.

In this scenario I propose a large green infrastructure that, in addition to having river wa-

ter treatment functions, defines the connections between currently unconnected green areas and takes back part of its potential to drain and slow down the flow of most waters of the Meriti Basin.

GREEN AREAS River Range Park Area

From left to right Studies of flooding in quotas of 1 m; 2m; and 3 meters; and a study of sub-basins and main flow arrows by topographical and not constructed sites.

Mountain Runoff (Reynold Flows) laminar transition turbulent

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEM 01

Draining services in Public spaces

04

02

River edge park Regeneration of local vegetation and soil permeability on the water border line;

03

Artificial Islands Modular islands on rivers junction areas to decrease the intensive water flow;

Renaturalized Canals A superficial Water drainage system designed to slow the intensity of stormwaters flow;

Public areas designed with levels, vegetation, ground covers, draining pavement to retain rainfall waters; 05

Lowlands Areas

P

Temporary flooded areas; 06

P

Phytotreatment Lakes

01

A phytodepuration urban water treatment system, similar to a second level treatment system.*

05

WATER TREATMENT P

Watersheds Sub-basins Waterflows

03

02

03

03 05 04

Preliminary Treatment Retention Buoys, Railing * and Deaerator.

01

03 05 04

PrIMAry Treatment

05

Flood Prone Areas 1,0m 1,5m 2,0m water spring

Decanter + floating solids collection 02 03

04

SECONDAry Treatment Stabilization Ponds + Biological Filter + Anaerobic Reactors THIRD Treatment* Non-biodegradable and / or toxic industrial compounds * Only in locations with risk of industrial and toxic contamination. Preferred installation near coastal industrial plants, in inappropriate industrial sheds or tanks.

SOIL USE

P

ECO-Industrial Medium Permeability housing High Permeability housing Military Green Public Protected Areas

P

01

02

P 03 01

03 05 04 06

04

06 P

Master Plan P

01

03

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A LARGE SYSTEM RECOVERING DRAINAGE SURFACES AND ECOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS The urban design is based on these environmental, flooding and drainage studies highlighting larges urban green infrastructure that beyond defining the connections between

currently separated green areas, has the potential for draining and runoff for most of the water flows of some of the most criticals hydrographics basins of the city.

And if the 3 functional principles (reduce the flow velocity; Consider the rise of sea level; and Flood areas with water pretreatment) in which parks and recreational equipments can be located.

HIGH PERMEABILITY SURFACES ALONG THE CITY WATERSHEDS Sub-basins Waterflows FLOOD PRONE AREAS 1,0m 1,5m 2,0m

ECOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN EXISTING FRAGMENTS GREEN CONECTIONS Existing Green areas Proposed Green areas

RECONSIDERING THE NATURALLY FLOOD ZONES A 1854 official map, showing natural lowlands and swampy areas of Rio de Janeiro.

Archival of Rio de Janeiro Municipality.