Plants for green infrastructure and the role of vegetation in urban water treatment in São Paulo: identification of criteria for species selection

Author(s)

Maitê Bueno Pinheiro

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2017-05-05

Examining board members

Paulo Renato Mesquita Pellegrino; Fábio Netto Moreno; Evandro Mateus Moretto

• Advisor: Paulo Renato Mesquita Pellegrino

Abstract

The city of São Paulo, as many other cities around the world, is been facing serious challenges regarding their water supply management due to the urban development. The potential of the biophysical bases of their landscapes is overcome by urbanization, including the treatment of urban water. In nature, water and vegetation are indissociable. Plants participate in the regulation of the water cycle and maintenance of the water quality through natural mechanisms identified as phytoremediation processes. They are also directly related to other ecosystem services that sustain life on the biosphere. Green Infrastructure is a concept of multifunctional landscapes that manage the rainwater at the source. It also improves the microclimate, the protection to the biodiversity, provides leisure areas, protection against natural disasters and treatment of pollution, without excluding thepossibility of the development. Since the end of the 1980s, urban water treatment is used in Berlin as an alternative of Green Infrastructure, replacing conventional practices. In São Paulo the use of such alternatives is much more recent; it was integrated by the Water Management Plan in 2010. In this dissertation I investigate the role of plants in the treatment of urban waters through Green Infrastructure typologies, observing the phytoremediation processes and identifying the selection criteria of plant species for Green Infrastructure projects in the city of São Paulo. A case study of the Água Podre stream is observed; west zone of the city in Rio Pequeno district. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/14998-6 - Green infrastructure in situ management of urban water: phytoremediation as a selection mechanism of plant species
• Grantee: Maitê Bueno Pinheiro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master