Rain gardens aimed at regional centralities, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (MG)

The City of Belo Horizonte has invested in the implementation of Rain Gardens, structures that contribute to the capture of rainwater, creating storage spaces that facilitate infiltration into the ground and help recharge the water table.
These structures receive the water runoff and accumulate the excess, forming puddles that gradually infiltrate the soil, helping the drainage system to work within capacity, even during peak precipitation. Also called Bioretention System, the gardens use the biological activity of plants and microorganisms to remove pollutants from rainwater, avoiding situations such as flooding points, water retention, and other problems caused by large volumes of rainfall. In addition, it creates spaces for biodiversity through vegetation, providing cooling areas, attracting insects, and contributing to carbon sequestration, which helps in the fight against climate change and in the adaptation of the space to the increase in temperatures.The project started with a pilot that propitiated or the implementation of 60 rain gardens in the Bacia do Nado. We now intend to start an expansion phase of the initiative to the 9 regions of Belo Horizonte, using the Centralities Development Fund (which currently has an amount of R$55.000.000) to implement about 500 new rain gardens in areas classified by the Master Plan as Regional Centralities. As you all know, Belo Horizonte suffers every year with critical flooding problems during the rainy season and the Rain Gardens project seeks to mitigate this problem, among others, benefiting thousands of citizens.