Water quality monitoring of the Pirapó River watershed, Paraná, Brazil/Monitoramento da qualidade da água na bacia hidrográfica do Rio Pirapó, Paraná, Brasil

• Published in: Brazilian journal of biology Vol. 75; no. 4; p. 148
• Main Authors: Bortoletto, E C, Silva, H A, Bonifácio, C M, Tavares, C R G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: São Carlos Instituto Internacional de Ecologia 01.12.2015
• Subjects: Freshwater; Methods; Nitrates; Polyethylene terephthalate; Precipitation; Principal components analysis; Rain; Variables; Water pollution; Water quality; Watersheds; ASW, Brazil; Brazil, Parana
• ISSN: 1519-6984; 1678-4375
• DOI: 10.1590/1519-6984.00313suppl

This study aimed to evaluate the water quality of the Pirapo River watershed in Parana, Brazil, and identify the critical pollution sites throughout the drainage basin. The water quality was monitored during the period from January 2011 to December 2012. Nine points distributed throughout the main channel of the Pirapo River were sampled for a total of 17 samplings. The water quality was evaluated, based on the determination of 14 physical, chemical and microbiological parameters. The results showed that the nitrate (NO3-), NO2-, TSS, turbidity and total phosphorous (TP) levels were related to the soil type, and the parameters DO, electrical conductivity (EC), ammoniacal nitrogen (N-NH3) and thermotolerant coliforms (TC) were related to organic matter pollution, with the P5 sampling site being the most critical site. The ordination diagram of the sampling points as a function of the PCA indicated a reduction from 9 to 5 sampling points, indicating the potential for decreasing the costs associated with monitoring.