TITLE:
Water Quality and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mantiqueira Ecological Corridor, Brazil
AUTHORS:
Gabriele Medeiros dos Santos, Maria Leonor Ribeiro Casimiro Lopes-Assad, Marcos Cicarini Hott, Marcelo Henrique Otenio
KEYWORDS:
Atlantic Forest, Water Body Classification, Land Use, Drainage Basin
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.6,
May
15,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The
presence of fecal coliforms is one of the determinants for classification of
the quality of water bodies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the
relationship between the water quality and surrounding land use in the area
known as the Mantiqueira Ecological Corridor, which straddles the borders of
the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, in Brazil. More
particularly, we studied ten municipalities in Minas Gerais located in the
region surrounding Serra do Papagaio State Park and Ibitipoca State Park. We
established a classification of water bodies in the area surrounding the
collection points in drainage basins based on the principles of sustainability.
Using TM/Landsat 5 images, SPOTMap mosaics and the SRTM digital elevation
model, we correlated land use classes with the environmental contamination
index and topographic characteristics of the area studied. The presence of
agriculture and urban areas heightened the differences in water quality
classification in the comparison between the dry and rainy seasons, while in
forested areas there was a greater equilibrium, with the same classification
between the two seasons.