Chemical Quality of Rainwater and Surface Runoff Water in the Proximity of the Abstractions That Supply the São Pedro do Sul Medical Spa (Portugal)

Abstract

São Pedro do Sul medical spa provides health services using hot natural groundwater superiorly classified as natural mineral water. The main source of supply of that medical spa, has been over time, the Traditional Spring, which in recent decades has been systematically controlled, and shows spectacular constancy in its chemical quality, if there are no outside contaminations. Within the context presented, the detailed physical-chemical quality of rainwater and surface runoff water was studied, in the proximity of the Traditional Spring, as there is a potential for them to infiltrate at depth and evolve into the natural mineral water aquifer system. Thus, in the present chapter, after presenting the physical-chemical quality of the natural mineral water from the Traditional Spring, as well as some elements of the literature on the physical-chemical quality of rainwater, the methodology of work is followed, and then the results obtained from the physical-chemical composition of rainwater and surface run-off water are presented and discussed, comparing them with the quality of the water from the Traditional Spring. Finally, the main conclusions are presented, and some recommendations are made on research into potential sources of pollution, which justify the poor quality of the rainwater studied.