Modeling the Effects of Introducing Low Impact Development in a Tropical City: A Case Study from Joinville, Brazil

Mariana L. R. Goncalves, Jonatan Zischg, Sven Rau, Markus Sitzmann, Wolfgang Rauch and Manfred Kleidorfer
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Mariana L. R. Goncalves: Unit of Environmental Engineering, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Jonatan Zischg: Unit of Environmental Engineering, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Sven Rau: Unit of Environmental Engineering, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Markus Sitzmann: Unit of Environmental Engineering, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Wolfgang Rauch: Unit of Environmental Engineering, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Manfred Kleidorfer: Unit of Environmental Engineering, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: In tropical countries like Brazil, fast and uncontrolled urbanization, together with high rainfall intensities, makes flooding a frequent event. The implementation of decentralized stormwater controls is a promising strategy aiming to reduce surface runoff and pollution through retention, infiltration, filtration, and evapotranspiration of stormwater. Although the application of such controls has increased in the past years in developed countries, they are still not a common approach in developing countries, such as Brazil. In this paper we evaluate to what extend different low impact development (LID) techniques are able to reduce the flood risk in an area of high rainfall intensities in a coastal region of South Brazil. Feasible scenarios of placing LID units throughout the catchment were developed, analyzed with a hydrodynamic solver, and compared against the baseline scenario to evaluate the potential of flood mitigation. Results show that the performance improvements of different LID scenarios are highly dependent on the rainfall events. On average, a total flood volume reduction between 30% and 75% could be achieved for seven LID scenarios. For this case study the best results were obtained when using a combination of central and decentral LID units, namely detention ponds, infiltration trenches, and rain gardens.

Keywords: flood mitigation; PCSWWM; low impact development (LID); performance analysis; planning options (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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