Water quality in rivers affected by urbanization : a case study in Minas Gerais, Brazil
(2015) In Student thesis series INES NGEK01 20151Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- Abstract
- This study highlights the key issues that urban river systems face due to urbanization. The city of Frutal (20°01' 32.17”S 48°56' 09.62” W) centered in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais is under urban expansion today. The aim of this study was to compare two rivers in this area, the Frutal River, an urban located river, with the Bebedouro River, which is a rural river approximately 3 km west of Frutal city. The purpose was to test if the urban located Frutal River is of a lower water quality than the rural, Bebedouro River, as a consequence of their different degree of exposure to urban environments. The city of Frutal suffers in some parts from environmental degradation mainly due to the increased rate of people moving into the city.... (More)
- This study highlights the key issues that urban river systems face due to urbanization. The city of Frutal (20°01' 32.17”S 48°56' 09.62” W) centered in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais is under urban expansion today. The aim of this study was to compare two rivers in this area, the Frutal River, an urban located river, with the Bebedouro River, which is a rural river approximately 3 km west of Frutal city. The purpose was to test if the urban located Frutal River is of a lower water quality than the rural, Bebedouro River, as a consequence of their different degree of exposure to urban environments. The city of Frutal suffers in some parts from environmental degradation mainly due to the increased rate of people moving into the city. This study intended to execute a water quality analysis of superficial water from both rivers to later compare their differences using statistics.
Physical, biological and chemical variables including pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, flow rate, hardness, electric conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, chlorophyll-a, fecal and total coliforms were measured in each river and later compared between the two rivers. Three different periods in three different seasons; March, July and September were selected to collect water quality variables from each river.
The result showed that Frutal River had poorer water quality. A significant (P<0.05) difference between the rivers in temperature, pH, DO, EC, total hardness, total alkalinity, fecal coliforms, total coliforms and TDS was detected and a significant (P<0.05) difference in variables between the three tested seasons were found in temperature, pH, total hardness, total
alkalinity, total coliforms and DO. This is strongly suggested being a consequence of the urbanization taken place in the city of Frutal and the lack of consisting and efficient environmental control.
The conclusion is that the city of Frutal has to protect its rivers further and suggestions to reduce the pollutions in the Frutal River is presented in constructing a sewage treatment plant in the catchment and also to increase the Green Infrastructure within the area. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- Staden Frutal, centrerad i den brasilianska delstaten Minas Gerais är idag under stark urbanisering och utveckling. Målet med denna studie var att ta reda på om den starka urbaniseringen har påverkat närliggande vattensystem och dess vattenkvalité. I studien har vattenkvalitén i floden Frutal, en flod liggandes centralt i staden Frutal, jämförts med vattenkvalitén i floden Bebedouro, en lantlig flod, 3 kilometer väst om staden Frutal.
Staden Frutal lider på många områden av miljöförstöring främst på grund av den snabba folkökning som skett under de senaste decennierna. En stor källa till föroreningarna har sin grund i avfall från hushållsavloppsvatten och industriverksamhet i området. Denna studie avser att bedöma skillnader i... (More) - Staden Frutal, centrerad i den brasilianska delstaten Minas Gerais är idag under stark urbanisering och utveckling. Målet med denna studie var att ta reda på om den starka urbaniseringen har påverkat närliggande vattensystem och dess vattenkvalité. I studien har vattenkvalitén i floden Frutal, en flod liggandes centralt i staden Frutal, jämförts med vattenkvalitén i floden Bebedouro, en lantlig flod, 3 kilometer väst om staden Frutal.
Staden Frutal lider på många områden av miljöförstöring främst på grund av den snabba folkökning som skett under de senaste decennierna. En stor källa till föroreningarna har sin grund i avfall från hushållsavloppsvatten och industriverksamhet i området. Denna studie avser att bedöma skillnader i föroreningar mellan dessa två floder och dess koppling till urbaniseringen
med hjälp av vattenkvalitébedömning.
Kemiska parametrar inklusive pH, löst syre, temperatur, flöde, vattenhårdhet, elektrisk konduktivitet, totalt mängd lösta ämnen, alkalinitet, klorofyll a, fekalier samt totala kolibakterier har mätts ifrån varje flod och senare jämförs dem emellan. Tre olika perioder i tre olika årstider; hösten (mars), vinter (juli), vår (september), valdes för att samla in dessa kemiska parametrar från varje flod.
Resultaten i studien visade att floden Frutal hade en signifikant (P<0.05) lägre vattenkvalitet i 9 av de elva parametrar som mättes: Löst syre, temperatur, pH, alkalinitet, elektrisk konduktivitet, vattenhårdhet, fekalier, totala kolibakterier samt totalt mängd lösta ämnen.
Detta föreslås bero på den okontrollerade urbaniseringen i staden Frutal och avsaknaden av bestående och effektiv rengöring och miljöövervakning. Förslag för att minska föroreningarna i området presenteras bland annat i form av konstruktion av ett reningsverk vid floden Frutal samt mer grön infrastruktur i området. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8894499
- author
- Björklund, Viktoria LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NGEK01 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Physical Geography and Ecosystem analysis, statistics, water quality in rivers, urbanization in Brazil
- publication/series
- Student thesis series INES
- report number
- 355
- language
- English
- id
- 8894499
- date added to LUP
- 2016-11-02 10:12:14
- date last changed
- 2016-11-02 10:12:14
@misc{8894499,
abstract = {{This study highlights the key issues that urban river systems face due to urbanization. The city of Frutal (20°01' 32.17”S 48°56' 09.62” W) centered in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais is under urban expansion today. The aim of this study was to compare two rivers in this area, the Frutal River, an urban located river, with the Bebedouro River, which is a rural river approximately 3 km west of Frutal city. The purpose was to test if the urban located Frutal River is of a lower water quality than the rural, Bebedouro River, as a consequence of their different degree of exposure to urban environments. The city of Frutal suffers in some parts from environmental degradation mainly due to the increased rate of people moving into the city. This study intended to execute a water quality analysis of superficial water from both rivers to later compare their differences using statistics.
Physical, biological and chemical variables including pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, flow rate, hardness, electric conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, chlorophyll-a, fecal and total coliforms were measured in each river and later compared between the two rivers. Three different periods in three different seasons; March, July and September were selected to collect water quality variables from each river.
The result showed that Frutal River had poorer water quality. A significant (P<0.05) difference between the rivers in temperature, pH, DO, EC, total hardness, total alkalinity, fecal coliforms, total coliforms and TDS was detected and a significant (P<0.05) difference in variables between the three tested seasons were found in temperature, pH, total hardness, total
alkalinity, total coliforms and DO. This is strongly suggested being a consequence of the urbanization taken place in the city of Frutal and the lack of consisting and efficient environmental control.
The conclusion is that the city of Frutal has to protect its rivers further and suggestions to reduce the pollutions in the Frutal River is presented in constructing a sewage treatment plant in the catchment and also to increase the Green Infrastructure within the area.}},
author = {{Björklund, Viktoria}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Student thesis series INES}},
title = {{Water quality in rivers affected by urbanization : a case study in Minas Gerais, Brazil}},
year = {{2015}},
}