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MANAGEMENT
OF MICRO BASINS AND URBAN POLLUTION
Calls for
Proposals 1996 and 1998
APPROVED CASE STUDIES |
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This
research was conducted with the help of a grant awarded by the
Environmental Management Secretariat with funds by the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Otawa, Canadá |
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"Generation
of a Geographic Information System and Land Management Proposal for the
Malvín Stream Basin" (1998)
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Country: |
URUGUAY |
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Municipality: |
Municipality of Montevideo |
Contact:
Ing. Agr. Álvaro
González
E-mail: agonzalez@fcien.edu.uy |
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Institution: |
Universidad
de la República
Facultad de Ciencias |
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SUMMARY |
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This project was presented in
1998 by the Municipality of Montevideo and the School of Sciences of the
University of the Republic of Uruguay, in response to the EMS/IDRC
invitation for projects related to water and urban waste management. It
was selected and started in the beginning of 2000 and was completed by
December of the same year.
The general objectives of the Project are: the promotion of cooperative,
innovative activities between the municipality, the University and the
civil society; to generate opportunities for civil participation in
environmental issues; to strengthen decentralisation and democratisation
processes at the level of the city government and to promote and implement
new geographic technologies for better land management. The specific
objectives are: to generate the above-mentioned Geographic Information
System (GIS), to prepare land management and environmental guidelines for
the area, to cooperate with the School of Sciences in its new location and
to increase the degree of empowerment of the inhabitants of the area.
The point of departure is the idea that the city represents a complex and
dynamic phenomenon that is both a real object and an image in the
perception of the different actors involved. The environment is taken as a
synonym for geographical space, and is both the product and scenario for
the society-nature interaction. In capitalist cities the income derived
from the use of the land is the main factor to be considered when deciding
the location of houses; that is to say, given the softness or lack of
regulations, low-income sectors occupy the more environmentally fragile
areas. The use of these resources generates conflict –because of group
disputes—which increases as a result of their inadequate use. The
modification of the environment by those who occupy a territory is the
result of the interaction of social, economic, cultural and other factors.
Urban environment management is considered to be a joint activity of
authorities and dwellers, in order to avoid or alleviate the negative
effects that such process implies, sharing its potential and limitations.
The Arroyo Malvín is a 2,85 km stream, located in the south eastern part
of the city. Its upper and lower stretches are covered watercourses while
the middle part is open to the sky and has turned into the focal point of
the environmental problem studied. The stream basin covers an area of 828
hectares. For this study –and taking the landscape features into
account—we delimited an area of 570 hectares, whose axis is the open sky
section of the stream.
Since the late 50’s irregular settlements have been appearing on its
banks and vicinity. The settlers are mainly dedicated to classifying waste
and raising domestic animals for consumption and sale. Three of such
settlements are old and extended (Cantera de los Presos, Boix & Merino
and Aquiles Lanza) and several other small ones. Despite the differences
in terms of location and relation among dwellers, they all suffer from a
severe shortage of basic services, a high level of Unsatisfied Basic Needs
while a high percentage of the population lives at social and
environmental risk, especially the young. These settlements are not
located on the outskirts of the urban geography but in a rather central
area close to the Malvín neighbourhood, whose social level is considered
medium-high. The level of environmental impact caused by the settlements
was assessed as high, due to their contribution of waste to the waterways
as well as to the dumping of faeces and liquid effluents resulting from a
lack of adequate sewage systems. The presence of the settlements, in turn,
is perceived as a security threat by the rest of the population in the
area. A project of the municipal authorities to use the stream banks as a
linear park has been partially implemented.
The issue of the irregular settlements in the study area is part of a
broader issue affecting Montevideo and other Uruguayan cities. Although
its primary cause is the country’s socio-economic policy generated by
national governments over recent decades, the Municipality is directly
challenged to find a solution to this difficult situation.
The clandestine dumping of garbage by private individuals and companies,
as well as the inefficient waste collection services, represent factors
that also contribute to the deterioration of the stream area. As such,
they should be dealt with urgently with the application of municipal
and/or police surveillance and a modified waste collection procedure.
Another factor that generates environmental problems is the presence of
new housing projects built by public, private and cooperative initiatives
(INVE, VICMAN, Malvín Alto, Euskal Erria), that have been expanding in
the vicinity since 1970. At the time this was perceived as a housing
solution to the growing number of people who could not afford the high
cost of renting or buying real estate in the established parts of the
city. As well as being closed-in areas -- which prevents neighbourhood
interaction-- and as a result of their high population density, these
blocks of buildings generate a considerable amount of solid waste that is
not properly taken care of. It has also been claimed that the dwellers do
not observe waste collection timetables.
In order to evaluate the quality of the water from the stream and affluent
brooks, samples were taken and analyses conducted at specific points. The
results were checked against previous analyses conducted by another team
from the School of Sciences. It was verified that the frequent breakdowns
in the sewage system and the flow of waste from the settlements are the
two main factors contributing to water deterioration; this is increased
during dry seasons and in the summer, with added aesthetic pollution and
offensive odours.
In order to put together the GIS, the Project team conducted a survey of
the study area in terms of the quality of the infrastructure of roads,
sidewalks, trees, sanitation and housing. Cartography on the use of the
soil was also produced; the present study was compared to the one
conducted in 1954. This was a graphic revelation of the transformation of
a former farming and quarry area into a fragmented urban zone, with large
areas that have not been organised into blocks and that show broad empty
lots that serve no definite purpose. Furthermore, geomorphologic and
topographic maps were drawn to study the dynamics of watercourses.
Information from the 1996 Census was supplied by the National Statistics
Institute for this purpose.
By combining two variables of the physical and natural environment
(distance from watercourse and geoforms) and three socio-economic
variables (presence of sanitation systems, percentage of health care
coverage and percentage of densely packed population), an environmental
risk zone classification was produced. As a result there are three risk
zones: the one all along the open sky section of the stream, the area
close to the brooks of the Aquiles Lanza settlement and the one
corresponding to the most recent settlement, La Cantera. Even though the
first one is the most visible and has been the object of most
intervention, the team advises on paying attention to the evolution of the
other two areas: the second area because of its complex problem –even
from the social point of view—that is neither manifest nor dealt with,
and the third one because the problem has just begun and, therefore, the
solution is relatively easier.
As guidelines for the environmental management, the Project mentions the
absence of land and environmental planning in the Uruguayan government
culture. It emphasises the need for land planning according to the scale
of the area which requires a deeper study of the Montevideo Land
Management Plan (POT). Tension was observed between the municipal and
national governments as both are in the hands of political opponents and
by and large this is negative for the interests of the population and
their environment. In addition, lack of coordination was noticed between
the different municipal services in charge of the environmental questions,
as well as in the Area Community Centre (CCZ) Nº 6 –that manages one
sector of the city including the area under study—and the central
Municipality. Decentralisation was suggested as a convenient measure not
only in terms of the territory –as the ongoing one—but also as a
functional decentralisation, so that the CCZ may have equipment and tools
to deal with emergencies in a conflictive area such as the one under
study. According to the team, concrete problems and those demanding urgent
solutions in the basin are: solid waste and water management in the
settlements; disposal of household garbage in the housing blocks; waste
collection in several specific points, the condition and maintenance of
the sanitation system. Specific steps are suggested for each one of them.
The use of GIS by decision makers as an apt tool to simulate land dynamics
and to evaluate their impact, the beginning of studies on the
environmental health-quality ratio in areas identified as risk zones, and
the generation of an environmental education programme that profits from
valuable background produced by schools and community organisations in the
area, are proposed by the Project as subjects that will help in facing the
future.
Project Team:
Ing. Agr. Alvaro González Gervasio (Coordinator)
Lic. Carlos Céspedes – cespedes@fcien.edu.uy
Prof. Gabriela Fernández – gabifer@fing.edu.uy
Lic. Virginia Fernández – vivi@fcien.edu.uy
Lic. Yuri Resnichenko – yresni@fcien.edu.uy
Bach. Mónica de la Torre |
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