Environmental impacts resulting from natural gas leaking under low and middle pressures in the central urban area of the São Paulo city.

Abstract

With the search for alternative power plants, the natural gas is acquiring prominence due to its relative low cost of acquisition for the final consumer, and to present reduced impacts in the implantation of pipelines compared with other sources of energy (hydroelectric and fission). The present work was directed to the verification of possible impacts originated from leaks in operational phase of gas piping. The study area is situated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It presents centennial gas pipelines, which demand constant interventions or maintenance, and easiness to collect samples for analysis. 40 points were sampled and analyzed in their anthropic, biotic and physical-chemical aspects. The adopted method was based in the characterization of the gas ducts and their maintenance, followed by the environment diagnosis, taking into account the soil, air, flora and fauna, conditions of the population life and urban landscape, with subsequent identification of impacts, in the situations of alteration of the environment impacts. The results had demonstrated that any gas leak generates an alteration in at least one environmental factor, denoting an impact. New study lines are proposed as better chemical-physical analysis of the material exposed to the pollutant and chemical reactions of the odorants with which the soil is in contact.