History of water quality parameters – a study on the Sinos River/Brazil

Abstract

Water is increasingly becoming a valuable resource, constituting one of the central themes of environmental, economic and social discussions. The Sinos River, located in southern Brazil, is the main river from the Sinos River Basin, representing a source of drinking water supply for a highly populated region. Considering its size and importance, it becomes necessary to conduct a study to follow up the water quality of this river, which is considered by some experts as one of the most polluted rivers in Brazil. As for this study, its great importance lies in the historical analysis of indicators. In this sense, we sought to develop aspects related to the management of water resources by performing a historical analysis of the Water Quality Index (WQI) of the Sinos River, using statistical methods. With regard to the methodological procedures, it should be pointed out that this study performs a time analysis of monitoring data on parameters related to a punctual measurement that is variable in time, using statistical tools. The data used refer to analyses of the water quality of the Sinos River (WQI) from the State Environmental Protection Agency Henrique Luiz Roessler (Fundação Estadual de Proteção Ambiental Henrique Luiz Roessler, FEPAM) covering the period between 2000 and 2008, as well as to a theoretical analysis focusing on the management of water resources. The study of WQI and its parameters by statistical analysis has shown to be effective, ensuring its effectiveness as a tool for the management of water resources. The descriptive analysis of the WQI and its parameters showed that the water quality of the Sinos River is concerning low, which reaffirms that it is one of the most polluted rivers in Brazil. It should be highlighted that there was an overall difficulty in obtaining data with the appropriate periodicity, as well as a long complete series, which limited the conduction of statistical studies such as the present one.Keywords: WQI -Water Quality Index, management of water resources, statistical analysis. Histórico dos parâmetros de qualidade da água -um estudo do Rio dos Sinos/RS -Brasil

Micronucleus test in fish for in situ evaluation of the Sinos River water quality, in Brazil

“…Concentrations of iron exceeded the limits at both sampling sites and periods. Aluminum and iron may be present in water due to the release of untreated domestic sewage, solid waste disposal near the river and also to the typical soil composition of the , 2013;BERGAMASCHI et al, 2015;KONZEN et al, 2015). Nickel and zinc values were within the limits at both sampling sites and periods whereas total chromium and ammoniacal nitrogen were not detected.…”

Aquatic life protection index of an urban river Bacanga basin in northern Brazil, São Luís - MA

“…This scenario is mainly constructed by the large amount of domestic sewage produced by urban basins (Gillis, 2012;Janse et al, 2015;Konzen et al, 2015;Benvenuti et al, 2015), intensified by rainfall that potentializes the concentration of nitrogen and phosphate compounds leading to a general eutrophication state (Cunha et al, 2010;Paula et al, 2010;Butiuc-Keul et al, 2012).…”

“…However, Bacanga River Basin is a large sewage deposit in São Luís, which forms a settling pond in its mouth (Pitombeira and Morais, 1971), where there are the highest salinity, highest concentration of phenols, heavy metals, such as Cu, and the highest input of organic matter, represented by high BOD levels (Konzen et al, 2015). This high organic load can lead this ecosystem to hypoxia or anoxia states at any time of the day (Campos and Studart, 2011), and the sampling sites B3 and B4 are pointed out as critical in the region (Nascimento, 2010;Martins, 2008).…”

“…To Konzen et al (2015), the presence of these metals causes deterioration of physical and chemical balance of the water, and interfere with the food chain leading to physiological and morphological changes.…”

Diversity of free-living amoebas in the Monjolinho River in São Paulo state – morphological and molecular approaches

“…In this regard, the Resolution No. 357/2005 is one of the most commonly assessed documents, provided by the National Environmental Council (CONAMA) (224,260,262,(264)(265). This resolution classifies water bodies in four levels of environmental quality, in which the level 1 defines the water as highly pure and suitable for several purposes including human water supply, after a mild disinfection process.…”