The expansion of allotments in Assú/RN: the circumstances of water courses in front of local urban planning

Abstract

The disorderly process of urbanization in Brazil has been causing problems of flooding and waterlogging in cities, especially in areas adjacent to watercourses. In Assú, a municipality located in the Northeastern Semiarid region, intermittent watercourses have also been transformed due to the process of urban expansion, becoming a subject of discussion regarding the connection between urban expansion and water resources. In this sense, this research aims to discuss environmental and land planning guidelines for the use and preservation of watercourses in the urban area of Assú, focusing on four densely occupied micro-watersheds. Therefore, it is based on a bibliographic and documentary review, taking into account the Municipal Master Plan (Complementary Law No. 015/06), Law No. 12.651/2012, Law No. 6.766/1979, and Law No. 14.285/2021; the use of satellite images processed in a GIS environment; and finally, field research to identify and record the river channels. The results demonstrate that the micro-watersheds observed in the urban area of Assú, according to the Municipal Master Plan (Complementary Law No. 015/06) and the Forest Code (Law No. 12.651/2012), exhibit land use and land cover characteristics that are not aligned with the Master Plan and the Forest Code regarding permanent preservation areas, contributing to the current problems of local floods and waterlogging.