{"id":80627,"date":"2025-03-22T14:20:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T17:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=80627"},"modified":"2025-03-24T21:56:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T00:56:26","slug":"while-population-suffers-impacts-of-poor-infrastructure-greater-rio-de-janeiros-flood-containment-program-is-delayed-and-over-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=80627","title":{"rendered":"While Population Suffers Impacts of Poor Infrastructure, Greater Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Flood Containment Program Is Delayed and Over Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Dique da Vila Alzira favela, near the Igua\u00e7u River, faces recurring floods. Photo: Filipo Tardim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/i><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>This article is part of a\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0created in partnership with the\u00a0Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies<\/a>\u00a0at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the\u00a0Digital Brazil Project<\/a>\u00a0on environmental justice in the favelas for\u00a0RioOnWatch.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In December 2023, mechanical technician Sandro Lu\u00eds Costa, a resident of Parque Amorim, a neighborhood in Belford Roxo<\/a>, a municipality in Greater Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Baixada Fluminense<\/a> region, faced one of the most devastating storms in the area. Living in a two-story house, he watched as floodwaters surged into his backyard, leaving him and his family stranded for days. Unable to leave, Sandro missed over a week of work. With torrential rains falling between Christmas and New Year’s, it took over a week for waters to recede. While his family fortunately did not suffer material losses, the vast majority of his neighbors, living in more vulnerable homes, lost furniture and appliances.<\/p>\n

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\"Sandro<\/a>
Sandro Lu\u00eds Costa, a resident of Parque Amorim, Belford Roxo, and a mechanical technician, records floods in his neighborhood. Photo: Personal Archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI had neighbors with 1.2 meters of water inside their homes. I measured it.\u201d \u2014 Sandro Lu\u00eds Costa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A similar situation happened to Jupira Brasilino, president of the Jardim Nova Era Residents\u2019 Association<\/a> in Nova Igua\u00e7u<\/a>, another municipality in the Baixada. After severe floods in February 2024<\/a>, she was forced to relocate to a neighboring area known as Marco Dois, in Jardim Alvorada. One morning, she woke up to find murky water already reaching her ankles. Facing financial losses, she turned to the FGTS Disaster Fund<\/a>, a federal benefit that, among other uses, allows workers affected by natural disasters to access part of their severance pay to replace lost furniture.<\/p>\n

However, far from being a mere “natural disaster,” the floods that struck the Baixada in February 2024 were, according to residents, the direct result of State negligence<\/a>, primarily due to the failure to keep up with the maintenance of flood control infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey installed a pump near the river to try to improve the situation during heavy rains, but it only worked for about six months. It broke down, and no one ever fixed it.\u201d \u2014 Jupira Brasilino<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the current context, with the worsening effects of climate change and increasingly catastrophic impacts on the most economically vulnerable areas of the Baixada Fluminense, the situations faced by Brasilino and Costa could have been mitigated if not for the state government’s ongoing neglect of the region. Residents argue that the effects of heavy rainfall would be less severe if proper urban and environmental management were in place.<\/p>\n

The Endless Misadventures of the Igua\u00e7u Project<\/h3>\n

What could have been the solution to the longstanding environmental challenges<\/a> of the Baixada Fluminense became known in the mid-1990s as the Igua\u00e7u Project<\/a>. If fully implemented, it would have been an ambitious public policy<\/a> built around a series of infrastructure projects designed to eliminate the vulnerability of riverside communities in the region to flooding. The proposed strategies included drainage systems, dams, hillside reforestation, spring restoration, and an innovative approach to urbanization along the riverbanks\u2014creating canal avenues and recreational areas to prevent encroachment on marginal strips. Additionally, in sections most prone to flooding, the Igua\u00e7u Project planned for the construction of floodable parks\u2014urban spaces designed to temporarily absorb excess rainwater, an effective model for mitigating flood impacts in cities.<\/p>\n

However, some aspects remain unclear regarding the project’s origins, execution plan, how it was communicated to the riverside population, and, notably, the various budget allocations made to the Igua\u00e7u Project over time. The first version of what would later become the Igua\u00e7u Project was developed in 1996 by the predecessor of the Laboratory of Hydrology and Environmental Studies<\/a> at COPPE, the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). It was carried out under a contract between the COPPETEC Foundation<\/a> and the state government, with funding from the World Bank. This study outlined a series of necessary structural actions aimed at reducing the frequency of flooding in the region’s municipalities.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/a>
Aerial view of the Botas River in Belford Roxo. Photo: Blog do CAO Lote XV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eleven years later, in 2007, there was a second attempt to structure and plan the project, led by the State Secretariat for the Environment (SEA<\/a>) in partnership with the State Superintendence of Rivers and Lagoons (SERLA). This effort resulted in the Master Plan for Water Resources, Flood Control, and Environmental Recovery of the Igua\u00e7u\/Sarapu\u00ed Basin<\/a>, covering the municipalities of Nova Igua\u00e7u, Belford Roxo, S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti<\/a>, Nil\u00f3polis<\/a>, Mesquita<\/a>, and Duque de Caxias<\/a>. The plan included drainage works for polders<\/a> (artificial hydraulic structures for flood control), tributaries, canals, and drainage channels forming the Sarapu\u00ed River<\/a> basin and the Igua\u00e7u River<\/a> and Botas River<\/a>. A total of 25 interventions were planned across these six municipalities comprising the low-lying Baixada Fluminense. That same year, according to the document, technical reports were to be prepared for the \u201cimmediate bidding of drainage works and the resettlement of riverside and floodplain residents.\u201d These short-term measures were estimated to cost R$270 million (~US$48 million), with R$75 million (~US$13.2 million) specifically allocated for family resettlement projects.<\/p>\n

Starting in 2007, a series of stops and delays affected the construction projects funded by the federal government’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC<\/a>) in the Baixada Fluminense, and managed by the State Institute for the Environment (INEA<\/a>). At the time, the agency announced that priority would be given to the tributaries of the Botas, Sarapu\u00ed, and Igua\u00e7u rivers, which were considered the most vulnerable to flooding. Over the next seven years, the Igua\u00e7u Project advanced and inaugurated some works<\/a>. However, in 2014, when the first phase of the project was completed\u2014having already consumed around R$450 million (~US$80 million)\u2014all construction was halted. As a result, despite the partial completion of some interventions, flooding continues to devastate the Baixada Fluminense.<\/p>\n

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Uma publica\u00e7\u00e3o compartilhada por F\u00f3rum Grita Baixada (@forumgritabaixada)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n