Water quality of springs in areas under different land uses in the southern highlands of Santa Catarina

Abstract

This study sought to characterize the conditions of springs used for domestic consumption and to analyze their water quality. The springs are situated in catchment areas (drainage areas) with different soil uses in rural properties of the southern plateau of Santa Catarina, Brazil. To this end, 56 springs used to supply rural properties were selected in the counties of Lages, Otacílio Costa, São José do Cerrito, Painel, and Bocaina do Sul. The water catchment area of the springs were described in detail with regard to topography, management, forest, protection, fences, channels to contain runoff, and macroscopic aspects of water. In addition, the water was analyzed for total and fecal coliforms, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, temperature, clarity, and nitrate and total phenol contents. The samplings for water analysis were performed in compliance with Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater (APHA). The above parameters were evaluated under the following soil uses in the drainage areas: native forest, native grassland, planted pine forest, and cropland. Data were analyzed by comparison of means by the Student's t test (p <0.05). More than 80% of the springs were found to be contaminated with fecal coliforms. The main risk factors for microbiological contamination in the region are extensive cattle ranching and the lack of adequate protection of the springs in most properties, with emphasis on the catchment areas of native grassland and native forest. Springs in pine forest areas have the lowest mean pH and the highest phenol content.

Water quality in individual groundwater supply systems in Southern Brazil

“…For deep wells, there were samples with pH above 10, which is related to geologic characteristics of the aquifer (ABAS, 2020). Oliveira and Galvão (2019), in deep well waters, corroborate with the here presented study and indicated that pH values are in the neutral band and according to the current Brazilian and WHO guidelines (Ramos et al, 2018;Portal et al, 2019).…”

“…The electrical conductivity values are similar to those found by Ramos et al (2018) and Dragon (2021). Eletrical condutivity values may have a connection with soil characteristics and geological structure.…”

“…Regarding temperature, the values found in the present study were close to those of the springs assessed by Ramos et al, (2018) and deep wells (Macedo et al, 2018;Galvão, 2019;Shehab et al, 2021).…”

Assessment of Microbial Contamination in Products of Animal Origin: Stretched-curd Cheese, Yogurt and Fresh Sausage

“…According to Alves and coauthors [31], water contaminations can occur due to failures in the public collection system, also because of the bad hygiene and maintenance of the water reservoir. In countryside area there is a lack of treatment and protection of artesian wells, streams, rivers and dams [32]. As well as to the Brazilian regulations, the samples were not conformed in the United States legislation, which states that total coliforms should not surpass the limit of 5 % from total samples analyzed in a month [33].…”

Análise de não Homogeneidades de Séries de Vazão de Captações de Nascentes na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Gramame, PB, Brasil

“…As nascentes de cursos de água são resultantes de afloramentos do lençol freático, ou são oriundas de aquíferos artesianos, e têm sido utilizadas com frequência para o consumo humano, dessedentação animal e para a irrigação de cultivos agrícolas de pequenas comunidades. Têm uma enorme importância para o abastecimento humano, como também para a formação e manutenção dos cursos d'águas e, consequentemente para as bacias hidrográficas (Kløve et al, 2011;Davis et al, 2017;Ramos et al, 2018;Sun et al, 2019). No entanto, essas importantes fontes hídricas, não raro, sofrem sérios problemas de degradação, devido, dentre outros, às alterações dos regimes do fluxo d'água por conta do uso desenfreado do solo para a agricultura e para a expansão urbana, sem o planejamento adequado (Kløve et al, 2014).…”