Governance Contributions for the Revitalization …
485
of Curitiba, containing around 474 thousand inhabitants, who represent 27% of the
municipal population (Procopiuck and Rosa 2015). Its main course crosses some
sectors with greater demographic density in the upper and middle parts of the basin
and with less dense occupation in its lower section (Bracht 2008).
Being urban through all its course, this river basin has serious problems of water
quality resulting from the urbanization process characterized by population growth,
uncontrolled use and occupation of the soil and inadequate exploitation of water
resources, and the intense occupation hinders the capacity to carry out interventions
for improvement of basin quality (Bracht 2008). Due to a set of point sources and
diffuse sources of pollution, water quality deteriorates progressively from the springs
towards its mouth, having as main contribution the launch of domestic sewage (Bollmann and Edwiges 2008). Garcias et al. (2014), also point to the importance of the
contribution of diffuse pollution and informal waste, the first of which refers to waste
from the release of materials used in everyday human activities and which may contain its highly toxic material compositions that are led to the river by stormwater
galleries. Informal rubbish is those residues found in places that are not commonly
imaginable, such as building roofs and hidden places that, in contact with the rain,
are drained into stormwater galleries as well. Added to this is the inadequate disposition of the waste selected by garbage collectors who live near the banks of the
river Belém, where in this case the material discarded by them is often thrown on
the banks or directly in the river (Garcias et al. 2014).
The management of the Belém river basin falls within the attributions of the
Alto Iguaçu and Tributaries Committee of the Alto Ribeira (COALIAR), a collegial
body linked to the Paraná Water Resources State Council, which has normative,
deliberative and consultative attributions regarding its area of jurisdiction (Hojda et al.
2015). Given the current characteristics, Hojda et al. (2015) states that the basin has a
history of few decisions and a current weakened dynamics despite its importance and
peculiar characteristics, with little discussion of projects and improvements to the
basin in this committee. These considerations make explicit the lack of management
of water resources in this basin, which has clearly delimited its problem in the
literature, but with few decisive ways to minimize or mitigate the problem. A possible
solution to this problem, advocated by Hojda et al. (2015), would be the creation of
the subcommittee of the basin of the river Belém, within COALIAR. This proposal
is supported by the examples of the Alto Tietê Committee and its subcommittees,
the Rio das Velhas Committee and its nuclei, and the case study of five examples of
urban rivers (Thames, Seine, Reno Cheong-gyecheon, Anacostia). These cases have
undergone a process of requalification and now present positive scenarios regarding
the feasibility of reversing anthropized scenarios, the approach and participation of
society before and after the actions and the long-term planning that surpasses the
“four years” commonly observed in Brazil.
485
of Curitiba, containing around 474 thousand inhabitants, who represent 27% of the
municipal population (Procopiuck and Rosa 2015). Its main course crosses some
sectors with greater demographic density in the upper and middle parts of the basin
and with less dense occupation in its lower section (Bracht 2008).
Being urban through all its course, this river basin has serious problems of water
quality resulting from the urbanization process characterized by population growth,
uncontrolled use and occupation of the soil and inadequate exploitation of water
resources, and the intense occupation hinders the capacity to carry out interventions
for improvement of basin quality (Bracht 2008). Due to a set of point sources and
diffuse sources of pollution, water quality deteriorates progressively from the springs
towards its mouth, having as main contribution the launch of domestic sewage (Bollmann and Edwiges 2008). Garcias et al. (2014), also point to the importance of the
contribution of diffuse pollution and informal waste, the first of which refers to waste
from the release of materials used in everyday human activities and which may contain its highly toxic material compositions that are led to the river by stormwater
galleries. Informal rubbish is those residues found in places that are not commonly
imaginable, such as building roofs and hidden places that, in contact with the rain,
are drained into stormwater galleries as well. Added to this is the inadequate disposition of the waste selected by garbage collectors who live near the banks of the
river Belém, where in this case the material discarded by them is often thrown on
the banks or directly in the river (Garcias et al. 2014).
The management of the Belém river basin falls within the attributions of the
Alto Iguaçu and Tributaries Committee of the Alto Ribeira (COALIAR), a collegial
body linked to the Paraná Water Resources State Council, which has normative,
deliberative and consultative attributions regarding its area of jurisdiction (Hojda et al.
2015). Given the current characteristics, Hojda et al. (2015) states that the basin has a
history of few decisions and a current weakened dynamics despite its importance and
peculiar characteristics, with little discussion of projects and improvements to the
basin in this committee. These considerations make explicit the lack of management
of water resources in this basin, which has clearly delimited its problem in the
literature, but with few decisive ways to minimize or mitigate the problem. A possible
solution to this problem, advocated by Hojda et al. (2015), would be the creation of
the subcommittee of the basin of the river Belém, within COALIAR. This proposal
is supported by the examples of the Alto Tietê Committee and its subcommittees,
the Rio das Velhas Committee and its nuclei, and the case study of five examples of
urban rivers (Thames, Seine, Reno Cheong-gyecheon, Anacostia). These cases have
undergone a process of requalification and now present positive scenarios regarding
the feasibility of reversing anthropized scenarios, the approach and participation of
society before and after the actions and the long-term planning that surpasses the
“four years” commonly observed in Brazil.