The São Paulo Court ordered the city of São Paulo to create a plan against flooding that can tackle the problem structurally. According to a ruling by judge Alexandra Fuchs de Araujo, of the 13th Public Finance Court of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo (TJ-SP), the municipal administration has shown serious deficiencies and continued omission in tackling urban drainage problems.
The court’s decision was motivated by a public civil action filed against the municipality by the São Paulo Housing and Urban Planning Attorney’s Office.
“In this case, there is a serious deficiency and continued omission of service [de enfrentamento dos problemas de drenagem urbana]which justifies judicial action”, says the text of the sentence, published on the 23rd.
“The persistence of the flooding problem, the annual recurrence of the same flooding points and the very existence of annual emergency plans, such as the Preventive Plan Chuvas de Verão, demonstrate that the actions undertaken have a reactive and punctual nature, without an integrated and long-term strategy that allows for an effective structural solution to the problem”, adds the sentence.
The Court decided to oblige the municipality to draw up a plan to combat flooding for a structural solution to the problem, containing the identification of critical areas and a hierarchy of risks; detailed description of the works and interventions to be carried out, including not only engineering works, but also urban management measures, land occupation control, preservation of permeable areas and other necessary actions; cost estimation; execution schedule; identification of funding sources; and commitment to include in proposals.
According to the Court’s decision, the new plan must be presented in three stages, with deadlines of 60, 120, and 180 days, counting from the final judgment of the sentence. The actions must be implemented, respectively, within two years; two to five years; and in 15 years.
In a statement, São Paulo City Hall said it will appeal the decision. The municipal administration also stated that it “regrets that the Court is unaware of the investments of more than R$9 billion in actions to combat flooding since 2021 and that the Municipal Risk Plan is published and being implemented”.
According to the note, tenders for the execution of works in 15 priority areas foreseen in the risk plan have already started and, currently, 127 projects have been completed to mitigate geological and hydrological risks in critical regions. “The plan’s first block of interventions covers 121 areas and represents investments of approximately R$1.5 billion.”
