Evolution of the Monitoring Water Quality System in Ipojuca River Basin, Brazil (original) (raw)

The monitoring of water quality is one of the environmental management instruments established by the Brazilian Environmental Policy. The objective of the presented article is to show the evolution during the last 20 years of the water quality monitoring system for the Ipojuca river basin, located in Pernambuco´s State. The Ipojuca river is situated in the semiarid and coastal zones of Pernambuco state. The dominant impacts on water quality of the river are domestic sewage input in the upper catchment and sugar cane cultivation and processing in the lower catchment. Long-term monitoring data was used to demonstrate the impact of sewage discharge on the river's self-purification capacity due the use of stillage (wastewater from cane processing) for fertilization and irrigation (fertigation). Contamination is done by a bio-alcohol factory with annexed sugar cane cultivation. The river's main ecological problems are water heating, acidification, increased turbidity, oxygen imbalance, and increased coliform bacteria levels. The monitoring system should be improved aiming its effective use as a decision support tool and popular participation in the environmental control practices and water resources management. It is concluded that to overcome the deficiencies, it is necessary to consolidate the participation of society into organizations which take part in the environmental control, as well as the implementation of water agencies and the water price, which will give the basic structure to improve the environmental conditions of the river basin.