A Methodology for Sewage Network Maintenance Toward the Fulfillment of Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Domestic effluents collected from urban areas are transported along extensive sewer networks that are assumed to operate as watertight systems. Such operability is ensured by maintenance routines, both preventive and corrective, that are capable of detecting weak points where loss of effluents might occur and affect bodies of water. Since urban rivers are the destination of such organic loads, they may be used as indicators of potential weak points along the sewage network. The implementation of initiatives whose goal is to avoid such input of pollutant loads is in line with at least three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals from the 2030 Agenda. The assumption that rivers may be used as indicators forms the basis of the Urban River Revitalization Program (PRRU) carried out since 2011 by the Water Resources Management division of the Sanitation Company of Paraná—Sanepar. Since its inception, over 3410 weak points have already been located and repaired within the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba, which covers about 98 river basins including the Belém River, one of the most important, located completely inside the urban area. In its northern basin 309 weak spots have been corrected, resulting in improved appearance and odor, as well as higher levels of dissolved oxygen.