DETENTION BASINS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVENTION ON SÃO FRANCISCO/ASSIS DAS CHAGAS STREAM, BELO HORIZONTE – MINAS GERAIS

Abstract

Detention basins usually are structural providences in urban watersheds to reduce impacts of larges floods, especially in areas with favorable natural conditions and incipient drainage system. The Belo Horizonte Municipal Sanitation Plan (municipality that is the capital of the state of Minas Gerais) predicts constructions of this type, once flood damage in the capital is recurrent, aggravated by the previous sanitation options, channelization of many watercourses, the waterproofing of streets and urban growth. Thus, an Environmental Impact Assessment (AIA, in the acronym in Portuguese) was made for the works and operation of the São Francisco/Assis das Chagas Stream basin, northeast of the Engenho Nogueira Stream basin, in the Pampulha regional, Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais, Brazil. The research was developed for the preparation of the EIA, with the proposal of a conciliated, qualitative and quantitative approach and based on environmental studies, fieldwork and cartography. There are effectiveness and weaknesses in the instrument, discussions of the relations between it and the integrated policies (urban and water resources in Belo Horizonte) were pointed out, as a way to instigate reflections for the exercise of this assessment.