Use of detention basin for flood mitigation and urban requalification in Mesquita, Brazil Ana Caroline Pitzer Jacob, Osvaldo Moura Rezende, Matheus Martins de Sousa, Luiza Batista de França Ribeiro, Antonio Krishnamurti Beleño de Oliveira, Cícero Matos Arrais and Marcelo Gomes Miguez ABSTRACT Unplanned urbanization is one of the main factors responsible for worsening flood-related problems in cities, increasing the frequency of flooding and flooding depths, consequently degrading both the natural and built environment. Considering this, the use of engineering techniques that reduce runoff and promote urban requalification are an efficient option for managing rainwater. This paper presents a case study of a flood control project using a storm water detention pond, designed to allow multiple uses of an urban space. The operation of the system is evaluated by an urban flow-cell model, known as MODCEL. This application seeks the best configuration for the layout of ‘Celso Peçanha’ Detention Basin, considering the local restrictions imposed by the City of Mesquita – Brazil, and optimized to damp storm flows resulting from rainfall events with return periods up to 50 years. The solution proposed considers the possibility of social urban space uses in flood control projects, revitalizing degraded areas and giving them multiple functions. Ana Caroline Pitzer Jacob (corresponding author) Osvaldo Moura Rezende Matheus Martins de Sousa Luiza Batista de França Ribeiro Cícero Matos Arrais AquaFluxus Water Resources and Environmental Consulting, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil E-mail: caroline@aquafluxus.com.br Osvaldo Moura Rezende Matheus Martins de Sousa Programa de Engenharia Ambiental, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Antonio Krishnamurti Beleño de Oliveira Marcelo Gomes Miguez Programa de Engenharia Civil, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Key words | compensatory techniques, multifunctional landscapes, urban drainage INTRODUCTION The increase of urbanization favours the replacement of natural surface vegetated cover by impervious surfaces, which hinder the processes of infiltration and water reten- tion in the watersheds and cause a significant increase in surface runoff (Kibler et al. ; FISRWG ; Ashley et al. ; Zhu et al. ; Huong & Pathirana ). The combination of the increase of extreme rainfall due to climate change, additional pavement of urban expansion and decreasing spaces for water storage on the watershed overloads the urban drainage systems more frequently and shows the necessity of a more efficient utilization of public spaces (Notaro et al. ; van Dijk et al. ; Zhou et al. ). The waters that flow over the impervious surfaces carry several types of pollutants, compromising their quality and the quality of the receiving body (Fisher et al. ; Novotny & Hill ; Wang et al. ; Yazdanfar & Sharma ; Zhou et al. ). Cities subjected to heavy storms and containing large impervious areas, preventing rainwater from infiltrating into the soil, produce a large amount of sur- face flows that often overload the drainage system, exposing people and properties to flooding (Fontanazza et al. ; Zhou et al. ). In the face of an unplanned urbanization process, which is very common in developing countries, like Brazil, the occurrence of high-intensity hydrological events shows the fragility of traditional drainage systems (Andoh & Iwugo ; Melville-Shreeve et al. ), with frequent failures. This kind of system is usually composed of structures that accelerate flows, such as river canalization works (Novotny & Hill ), focusing on conveying pre-defined design dis- charges (Yazdanfar & Sharma ). These techniques can transfer the problem downstream, without controlling the related consequences. Besides that, unplanned or uncon- trolled urban growth generates discharges that are greater than that for which the drainage network was designed. 2135 © IWA Publishing 2019 Water Science & Technology | 79.11 | 2019 doi: 10.2166/wst.2019.212 Downloaded from http://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/79/11/2135/619828/wst079112135.pdf by guest on 19 August 2022