Water management and sustainability: global challenges and local responses from the case study of Seropédica, Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This paper addresses the territorial development and the water issue of the region covered by the Sepetiba Sedimentary Basin, where the municipality of Seropédica is located, in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro. From a typo-morphological investigation on the regional scale, it seeks to approach the basin’s relationship to the water supplying for the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro; the presence of the Piranema Aquifer, which has been in permanent environmental risk due to sand extraction activities; the urban/industrial growth due to investments in course; and the precarious urban infrastructure, especially sewage and rainwater drainage systems. Qualitative and quantitative data on the potentialities and fragilities of the territory are presented in the regional scale. Locally, we propose interventions and good practices to mitigate the water problems that have been verified in the urban nuclei.