Analysis of infiltration capacity to attenuate flooding at a critical location in the city of Recife

Abstract

The growing urbanization of Recife (PE) leads to a decrease in permeable natural areas, increased runoff, reduced groundwater recharge and the generation of floods that, although punctual, cause various disturbances to the population. This scenario, together with the deficiency in the local drainage system, creates the need for studies of sustainable techniques to minimize the impacts of rainy events. Therefore, the objective of this work was to estimate the hydrodynamic behavior of a soil in the city of Recife using real precipitation records, in order to verify its infiltration potential in the attenuation of floods and its consequent benefits for the supply of the underground flow close to a flooding point. For this, the area covered by natural soil adjacent to a critical location in the rainy season was chosen. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the soil were estimated using the Beerkan methodology. In the Hydrus 1D software, the simulations were performed with the meteorological data for the month of July 2000 and considered the most unfavorable infiltration situation, that is, the lowest saturated hydraulic conductivity obtained (Ks = 0.0047 mm / s). The simulations showed the influence of Ks in the results that showed that the soil had a good draining capacity in the short and medium term, according to the daily and monthly analyzes, in addition to the benefits for human supply and civil works due to the occurrence of recharging the water table.