Creation of an environmental protection area in a public supply source: possibilities and challenges in Cianorte - Paraná

This work analyzed the contribution that the creation of Environmental Protection Areas (EPA) may bring to the conservation of hydrographic basins used as public water sources. The object of study of this work was the hydrographic basin of the Ligeiro River which, by 2022 onwards, will be the new source of public supply in the city of Cianorte-Paraná, replacing the hydrographic basin of the Bolívar stream. The latter has environmental impacts caused mainly by the expansion of urban areas and inadequate practice of land use, occupation, and management, which affects the population’s supply, particularly on days with high levels of rainfall. The study area involved the creation of two municipal EPAs in the hydrographic basin of the Ligeiro River, located in the municipalities of Araruna and Cianorte, with areas of 209.76 km² and 219.82 km², respectively. It is believed that the creation of Environmental Protection Areas in the Ligeiro River hydrographic basin will also present challenges, but it will enable the conservation of natural resources and, especially, of water resources, given the quality of the water. It is expected that these actions will help to minimize or even prevent, in the future, the Ligeiro river hydrographic basin from being as or more impacted as the Bolivar stream basin.

Water quality analysis of Ribeirão São João in the Municiply of Porto Nacional – Tocantins / Análise da qualidade da água do Ribeirão São João no Município de Porto Nacional - Tocantins

Water is the source of life and an indispensable element of nature for human survival. Over the centuries, the available water resources have undergone constant crisis processes, especially when it comes to water pollution that affects its effectiveness for consumption. The monitoring of the water quality offers qualitative information about the water based on the parameters adopted in the CONAMA Resolution nº. 357/2005 and the calculation IQA NSF of the National Sanitation Foundation (APHA, 2005). The study about the water quality index aims to obtain information about the quality of the hydric resource available in Ribeirão São João in Porto Nacional - Tocantins, which has multiple uses such as: public supply, fishing, leisure, among others. The analysis undertaken to verify the quality of the water adopted procedures for analyzing the parameters of temperature, oxygen, pH, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, fecal coliforms, total solids and turbidity that occurred between the months of August and September 2021. The collection and analysis of water samples showed that the Ribeirão presents acceptable levels within the parameters established by the literature studied and infer that the water quality is considered average for the purposes of capitation and human consumption.

A review of seventeen years of bank filtration in Brazil: results, benefits and challenges - Part 1: state of Santa Catarina

This work is the first part of a national review about Bank Filtration (BF) that began in 2003, in Brazil. These studies were conducted in the laboratory and in the field with water and natural sediment from the study regions, showing how BF has been efficient worldwide for the treatment of water for public supply as an alternative treatment. It aims to show the synthesis of results to date and point out its main benefits and challenges; that is, the state of the art at the national level. The review is concentrated in Santa Catarina (part 1), Pernambuco and Minas Gerais (part 2). BF demonstrates efficiency in reducing parameters such as turbidity and coliforms (total and fecal), pesticides and toxins. However, BF showed low capacity in reducing parameters such as salinity and true color. BF is highly dependent on local geological conditions, so parameters such as iron, manganese, fluorine, alkalinity, hardness, and chlorides can be added to the treated water. Keywords: Water Treatment. Bank Filtration. Public Supply Systems. Natural Sediment. Water Quality.

Identificação de Gastrópodes límnicos em reservatórios utilizados para abastecimento público: importância para segurança hídrica / Identification of limnic gastropods in reservoirs used for public supply: importance for water security

Uma superpopulação de gastrópodes límnicos tem sido relatada por moradores das redondezas do reservatório do Rio Passaúna localizado entre os municípios de Curitiba, Araucária e Campo Largo, utilizado pela Companhia de Saneamento do Paraná (SANEPAR), para o abastecimento público da Região metropolitana de Curitiba. No intuito de identificar o molusco e avaliar os riscos e as potencialidades associados à segurança hídrica do reservatório, foram coletados 49 exemplares de moluscos límnicos em 4 pontos da represa. As coletas foram realizadas no dia 28/01/2019 seguindo as orientações do protocolo estabelecido pelo Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz). Os animais foram enviados ao laboratório de malacologia da Fiocruz, localizada no Rio de Janeiro, para identificação da espécie do molusco e presença de formas larvais de trematódeos. Para a pesquisa de presença de helmintos, os animais foram expostos a períodos de luz e escuro e dissecação anatômica. Dos 49 exemplares, quatro morreram antes do ensaio, foram analisados 45 moluscos, sendo estes identificados como pertencentes ao gênero Pomacea sp. Não foram observadas formas larvais de trematódeos de importância médica e veterinária. Com relação a segurança hídrica, os gastrópodes identificados podem funcionar como bioindicadores de qualidade da água, quando relacionados a concentração de matéria orgânica presente em corpos hídricos, sendo essa informação de grande importância para o processo de tratamento de água, e para o plano de uso de múltiplos de reservatórios utilizados para abastecimento público.

Macroinvertebrates responses based on chemical and physical variables in urban streams

The Land uses and occupations around small watersheds generate negative impacts such as deterioration of water quality, environmental simplification, reduced availability of habitats for species, and loss of biodiversity. Benthic macroinvertebrates are an important aquatic community and are widely used in environmental monitoring actions in aquatic ecosystems, including urban streams, which are still little studied in Brazil. In our study, an urban headwater basin (Monjolinho River Basin) was studied on the benthic community structure, together with the physical and chemical variables of the water, as an environmental monitoring tool calculated by RHDEP, TSI, BMWP indexes and abundance-biomass curves. The results showed a gradient of environmental quality, where the best environments are a consequence of preserving the vegetation cover. These environments (Espraiado and Canchim) present groups sensitive to environmental degradation (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera), greater diversity and a better structure in the respective benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages. Among the streams sampled, one is very clean, four are moderately polluted, and one is severely polluted. Thus, considering that these streams’ waters are essential for public supply, actions to clean up and recover degraded environments are urgent and a priority.

Dental Caries and Fluoretation of Public Supply Waters: The Reality of Northern Brazil

The aim of this study is to carry out a literature review covering conceptual and epidemiological aspects associated with dental caries disease in Northern Brazil. A survey of specialized literature was carried out in the SciELO, PubMed, Virtual Health Library, and Google Scholar databases, using the following descriptors: fluoride, fluoridation, dental caries, and epidemiology. Dental caries is a chronic and multifactorial disease, influenced by the human diet and by social, economic, cultural, and behavioral determinants. There is a disparity in oral health when comparing the poorest regions of Brazil, with a lack of fluoridation of water for human consumption.

Analysis of the feasibility of the use of rainwater: A case study for standard school infrastructures

With the growth in water demand worldwide, cities are experiencing increasing difficulties to guarantee the public supply of drinking water. Therefore, the search for alternatives that replace the available sources needs to be disseminated. An alternative to reduce the demand for drinking water is to use the Rainwater harvesting system. This work analyzes the feasibility of implementing a system for capturing, storing, and distributing rainwater for non-drinking purposes in three standard projects of the National Fund for the Development of Education in three locations in the state of Pernambuco: Recife, Caruaru, and Petrolina. To achieve this objective, local rainfall data, the catchment area used and the demand for non-drinking water in the building were analyzed. Then, sizing calculations of the storage reservoir were performed by different methods. The time for return on investment was considered satisfactory for all types located in Recife and for the 1-room type in Caruaru and Petrolina, considering the benefit from the system in the long term. Therefore, the typologies of 6 and 12 rooms in Caruaru and Petrolina were excluded since they had a return time of more than 24 years. The advantages are not only financial, but also environmental, cultural, and educational.

Development of a Water Quality Index (WQI) for public supply in the Vale do Rio Pardo region, RS, Brazil

This research developed a Water Quality Index (WQI) for public supply in the Vale do Rio Pardo Region, RS, Brazil (WQI-VRP), from the database of the 13th Regional Health Coordination, totaling 1175 samples. A filtration process resulted in 285 samples with the variables free residual chlorine, turbidity, apparent color, pH, fluoride, total coliforms and Escherichia coli. For water consumption purposes, the Water Quality Index developed by the Sanitation Company of Goiás, Brazil, was used. A multivariate calibration of the weights of importance of the parameters included in the original index was performed, resulting in the WQI-VRP. Comparing the medians of the two indexes, it was found that there were significant differences (p<0.05), qualifying the WQI-VRP as more restrictive. The results indicated that 89.8% of the samples were classified as non-compliant samples by WQI-VRP, while 10.2% were classified as compliant samples. Of the 285 samples analyzed, 72 samples of chlorine, 12 of total coliform, 5 of E. coli, 2 of color, 200 of fluoride and 26 of pH, were below or above the minimum or maximum values required by Brazilian legislation. The pH and fluoride correspond to the critical variables of the study region, as they were the parameters that showed the greatest increases in relative weights when comparing the original index with the calibrated one. These results confirm the use of the WQI-VRP as an efficient tool to assess the quality of drinking water in Brazilian subtropical and temperate lotic systems.