Zoning of Inundation Risk Areas at Baixada Campista, Northern Region of the Brazilian State of Rio de Janeiro, supported by Geoprocessing

Abstract

Since the beginning of humanity, the occupation of land has ever been associated to the margins of bodies of water, though this occupation has been showing several damages to mankind due to the natural elevation of the watercourses over the anthropized lands. Much of the city of Campos dos Goytacazes is developed in areas previously bathed by extensive bodies of water, thus, a major portion of Campos dos Goytacazes territory exists as a result of massive human intervention that aimed to drain its system of lowlands, in order to enlarge the agricultural lands. The Zoning of Inundation Risk Areas becomes a valuable tool for organizing and planning of the soil uses and occupations, mainly where the inundation events are recurring, such as Campos dos Goytacazes. This tool is able to identify critical areas and direct the soil uses according to the particular features of a region. The aim of this article is to propose a model of ecological-economic zoning for inundation risk areas at Baixada Campista, using the Geographic Information System (GIS), software ArcGis, version 9.3. This work identified the extent of the hydrological system in the studied area and discussed the main implications of the rational soil use around the area.