Performance evaluation of urban drainage systems: an analytic hierarchy process approach for the Jaracati basin in Brazil

Abstract

The efficiency of drainage systems in urban centers and especially in their peripheral regions has deserved more and more special attention since their interrelationship with social and environmental aspects is associated with the performance of drainage infrastructures. Integrated urban water management is a major factor in the effectiveness of an urban drainage system. In large cities, negative effects caused by the disorderly urbanization process, especially those related to rainwater runoff, are increasingly present. An evaluation model of urban drainage systems was generated using System Fragility Indicators (IFS) and their ranking via Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), in the Jaracati River basin, Maranhão State, Brazil. Indicators were measured through the evaluation of the system and the experience of specialists in drainage systems. The results obtained allowed for the consolidation of a model to support planning and decision-making in the assessment processes of measures to mitigate socio-environmental impacts involved in the urban drainage of a watershed, with performance indicators capable of guaranteeing the support of a model being verified measurement of performance parameters of urban drainage systems.