No abstract

Riparian vegetation represents a protective barrier between human activities installed in catchments and capable of generating and exporting large amounts of contaminants, and stream water that is expected to keep quality overtime. This study explored the combined effect of landscape composition and buffer strip width (L) on stream water quality. The landscape composition was assessed by the forest (F) to agriculture (A) ratio (F/A), and the water quality by an index (IWQ) expressed as a function of physico-chemical parameters. The combined effect (F/A × L) was quantified by a multiple regression model with an interaction term. The study was carried out in eight catchments of Uberaba River Basin Environmental Protection Area, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and characterized by very different F/A and L values. The results related to improved water quality (larger IWQ values) with increasing values of F/A and L, which were not surprising given the abundant similar reports widespread in the scientific literature. But the effect of F/A × L on IWQ was enlightening. The interaction between F/A and L reduced the range of L values required to sustain IWQ at a fair level by some 40%, which is remarkable. The interaction was related to the spatial distribution of infiltration capacity within the studied catchments. The high F/A catchments should comprise a larger number of infiltration patches, allowing a dominance of subsurface flow widespread within the soil layer, a condition that improves the probability of soil water to cross and interact with a buffer strip before reaching the stream. Conversely, the low F/A catchments are prone to the generation of an overland flow network, because the absence of permanent vegetation substantially reduces the number of infiltration patches. The overland flow network channelizes runoff and conveys the surface water into specific confluence points within the stream, reducing or even hampering an interaction with a buffer strip. Notwithstanding the interaction, the calculated L ranges (45–175 m) are much larger than the maximum width imposed by the Brazilian Forest Code (30 m), a result that deserves reflection.

Road spills of hazardous substances are common in developing countries due to increasing industrialization and traffic accidents, and represent a serious threat to soils and water in catchments. There is abundant literature on equations describing the wash-off of pollutants from roads during a storm event and there are a number of watershed models incorporating those equations in storm water quality algorithms that route runoff and pollution yields through a drainage system towards the catchment outlet. However, methods describing catchment vulnerability to contamination by road spills based solely on biophysical parameters are scarce. These methods could be particularly attractive to managers because they can operate with a limited amount of easily collectable data, while still being able to provide important insights on the areas more prone to contamination within the studied watershed. The purpose of this paper was then to contribute with a new vulnerability model. To accomplish the goal, a selection of medium properties appearing in wash-off equations and routing algorithms were assembled and processed in a parametric framework based on multi criteria analysis to define the watershed vulnerability. However, parameters had to be adapted because wash-off equations and water quality models have been developed to operate primarily in the urban environment while the vulnerability model is meant to run in rural watersheds. The selected parameters were hillside slope, ground roughness (depending on land use), soil permeability (depending on soil type), distance to water courses and stream density. The vulnerability model is a spatially distributed algorithm that was prepared to run under the IDRISI Selva software, a GIS platform capable of handling spatial and alphanumeric data and execute the necessary terrain model, hydrographic and thematic analyses. For illustrative purposes, the vulnerability model was applied to the legally protected Environmental Protection Area (APA), located in the Uberaba region, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In this region, the risk of accidents causing chemical spills is preoccupying because large quantities of dangerous materials are transported in two important distribution highways while the APA is fundamental for the protection of water resources, the riverine ecosystems and remnants of native vegetation. In some tested scenarios, model results show 60% of vulnerable areas within the studied area. The most sensitive parameter to vulnerability is soil type. To prevent soils from contamination, specific measures were proposed involving minimization of land use conflicts that would presumably raise the soil's organic matter and in the sequel restore the soil's structural functions. Additionally, the present study proposed the preservation and reinforcement of riparian forests as one measure to protect the quality of surface water.

Com a crescente urbanização aliada ao consumo exagerado tem como consequência a geração em grandes quantidades de resíduos sólidos. Para se obter informações da viabilidade da implementação de usinas de triagem de resíduos sólidos, pátios de compostagem, o dimensionamento de aterros sanitários e ainda prever lucros com venda destes resíduos torna-se necessário e indispensável conhecer em quantidade, volume e densidade os resíduos sólidos gerados sejam eles em empresas ou ainda em municípios de pequeno, médio ou grande porte. O objetivo desse estudo foi caracterizar e avaliar a geração dos resíduos sólidos urbanos (RSU) produzidos pela população urbana da cidade de Nova Ponte-MG. Para obtenção desses dados foram realizada coleta de amostras em todos os bairros da cidade onde após a coleta, estes foram pesados, separados e classificados como vidros, plásticos, metais, papel, papelão, Pet, alumínio, matéria orgânica e rejeito. A geração per capita de resíduos sólidos em Nova Ponte-MG foi de 0,554 kg/hab./dia. Do total de resíduos gerados 39,6% podem e devem ser reintegrados ambientalmente, socialmente e economicamente sendo necessária por parte do município a implantação de um programa de reciclagem tanto dos resíduos potencialmente recicláveis quanto da matéria orgânica gerada, aliada a um programa de educação ambiental com as populações do município a fim de contribuir com a separação dos resíduos, principalmente dos recicláveis dos não recicláveis.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a qualidade das águas superficiais do Rio Uberaba, situado no Triângulo Mineiro, abrangendo os municípios de Uberaba, Veríssimo, Conceição das Alagoas e Planura. Os parâmetros físico-químicos pH, condutividade elétrica, potencial de oxirredução (ORP), oxigênio dissolvido (OD), turbidez, sólidos totais foram analisados em campo com o uso de sonda multiparâmetros HORIBA enquanto demanda Bioquímica de Oxigênio (DBO), nitrogênio, fosforo total, fosforo dissolvido, amônia, alcalinidade, acidez total, cloretos, coliformes totais, coliformes fecais, demanda química de oxigênio (DQO), nitrato, nitrito, nitrogênio orgânico, óleo e graxas e sulfatos foram analisados em laboratório, nos períodos chuvoso e seco, entre março de 2009 a julho de 2010, em cinco ponto de amostrais ao longo do rio . De acordo com a Resolução CONAMA No 357/2005, dentre os parâmetros avaliados os coliformes fecais, totais e fósforo total apresentaram-se acima dos limites estabelecidos para Classe III e II, para o período chuvoso enquanto no período seco todos os parâmetros encontraram-se dentro do limite da Classe II. Esses resultados indicam que as águas superficiais da bacia encontram-se contaminadas com grandes concentrações de poluentes principalmente de origem orgânica em especial durante o período chuvoso

Roads play an important role in the economic development of cities and regions, but the transport of cargo along highways may represent a serious environmental problem because a large portion of transported goods is composed of dangerous products. In this context, the development and validation of risk management tools becomes extremely important to support the decision-making of people and agencies responsible for the management of road enterprises. In the present study, a method for determination of environmental vulnerability to road spills of hazardous substances is coupled with accident occurrence data in a highway, with the purpose to achieve a diagnosis on soil and water contamination risk and propose prevention measures and emergency alerts. The data on accident occurrences involving hazardous and potentially harmful products refer to the highway BR 050, namely the segment between the Brazilian municipalities of Uberaba and Uberlândia. The results show that many accidents occurred where vulnerability is high, especially in the southern sector of the segment, justifying the implementation of prevention and alert systems. The coupling of vulnerability and road accident data in a geographic information system proved efficient in the preparation of quick risk management maps, which are essential for alert systems and immediate environmental protection. Overall, the present study contributes with an example on how the management of risk can be conducted in practice when the transport of dangerous substances along roads is the focus problem.

Groundwater represents an important component in the supply of freshwater in several regions around the world. The contamination of these waters is a worrisome problem in the management of water resources. Since underground aquifers are vulnerable to contamination by human and industrial activities, including land use, the diagnosis associated with land use is critical for environmental management. The present study was carried out in the Uberaba sandstone formation, in which the vulnerability of the subterranean aquifers was determined using the DRASTIC method, by evaluating the interaction between the use and occupation of the land using a geographic information system. Thus, the risk of contamination of the underground aquifer was determined by evaluating the land use with the water quality and fertility. The tool applied in the present study proved effective for the diagnosis, management and action planning in the short and long term, with the intention of preserving these natural resources.

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