Evaluation and classification of water quality of the Corumbataí river (SP) as to organic and inorganic compounds focusing on the study of ecotoxicological parameters with Ceriodaphnia dubia

• Grant number: 07/08233-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2008
• End date: January 31, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Valdemar Luiz Tornisielo
• Grantee: Valdemar Luiz Tornisielo
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Water is fundamental to the conservation of life on the planet life and negligence has turned the aquatic medium into a final receptor of pollutants deriving from several routes. The increasing demand for fresh water has made the monitoring of water bodies essential and in present days it is a precious asset that can compromise the environmental equilibrium, socioeconomic growth and public health. In Brazil, land clearing is unbridled, with native species extinction and consequent increase of deserted areas, pollution and contamination of soil, air and river, sea and lake water and underground aquifers at an environmental level. There are long-lasting and recent problems originating from anthropic degradation, which reflect on social and economic aspects. Corumbataí river was chosen for the large diversity of impacts on water quality, for it supplies the regions of Piracicaba and Rio Claro. Domestic, industrial, agricultural sewage and riparian forest devastation constitute the main issues of the river. The goal is to interpret the set of analysis results so as to classify the classes according to the Water Quality Index for the Aquatic Life Protection and for human use. Six collecting sites will be determined and within a one-year period monthly collecting will be performed, having essential parameters of pH, OD, conductivity and temperature verified. Also, toxicity tests will be carried out with Ceriodaphnia dubia to detect the bioavailability of substances at concentrations capable of causing a toxic effect on their reproduction and/or survival. In addition, the group of toxic substances as Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Hg, Ni, Zn, phenols and surfactants will be quantified. The eutrofization process will be evaluated through Chlorophyll a, P and water transparency analyses. (AU)