Water availability and quality threats in a Guarani Aquifer System outcrop zone

• Grant number: 15/03806-1
• Support type: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Thematic Grants
• Duration: April 01, 2016 - March 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Edson Cezar Wendland
• Grantee: Edson Cezar Wendland
• Home Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Christopher Scott Lowry ; Douglas Kip Solomon ; Dulce Buchala Bicca Rodrigues ; Jorge Luís Porsani ; Luisa Fernanda Ribeiro Reis ; Paulo Tarso Sanches de Oliveira ; Reginaldo Antonio Bertolo ; Ricardo César Aoki Hirata ; Rodrigo de Melo Porto ; Rodrigo Lilla Manzione ; Silvio Crestana ; Uwe Tröger ; Vagner Roberto Elis ; Valdir Schalch ; Victor Michael Heilweil ; Yu-Feng Forrest Lin
• Associated grant(s): 18/15237-0 - Water security in the Guarani Aquifer in São Paulo, Brazil, AP.R
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/24615-8 - Effects of partial capping in the contaminants mobilization and microbial degradation in a closed waste deposit, BP.DR; 18/19222-7 - Causality and persistence in the water availability dynamics, BP.MS; 18/03421-0 - Water fluxes in the Brazilian Cerrado and the maintenance of water storage, BP.IC; 16/23546-7 - Water availability under extreme events: droughts in the Paraná Basin region, BP.PD

Abstract

The Guarani Aquifer System (GAS) is one of the most important transboundary aquifers in the world. Located in parts of four South America countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), its area is estimated to 1.2 Million km². The GAS is formed by the eolian sandstones of the Jurassic (Botucatu formation) and fluvio-eolian Triassic (Pirambóia formation) periods. In Brazil 1,443 municipalities are located in the SAG area (Borghetti et al., 2004), with growing water demand for urban, industrial and agricultural purposes. Due to the strategic, social and economic importance of this aquifer for the four countries, it is necessary to understand its replenishment. The majority of recharge to the aquifer is hypothesized to occur in the outcrop areas, where the GAS appears as an unconfined aquifer. However few hydrogeologic studies focusing this question are available. The present project is compound of three major foci: 1. A monitoring network installed in the Ribeirão da Onça watershed aiming to understand and quantify the recharge mechanisms at these outcrop areas. A complete water balance can be evaluated, leading to the estimation of the main components of the hydrologic cycle (e.g., precipitation, evapotranspiration, storage, base flow) under agricultural use. The influence of different land uses (e.g. eucalyptus, sugar cane, citrus and grassland) can be quantified. 2. An experimental site under undisturbed dense Cerrado in order to understand pre-deforestation conditions. Canopy interception, throughfall, stemflow, surface runoff, erosion, and water table level are obtained, allowing the evaluation of the impact of soil use changes in comparison to native vegetation. 3. A monitoring network in an abandoned landfill aiming to the evaluation of contamination and transport processes in the Guarani Aquifer. Understanding the hydrological and contamination processes in detail scale is a key step in order to extrapolate local results to the whole aquifer system, providing reliable information for groundwater management and protection purposes. (AU)

Scientific publications

(7)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ANACHE, JAMIL A. A.; WENDLAND, EDSON; ROSALEM, LIVIA M. P.; YOULTON, CRISTIAN; OLIVEIRA, PAULO T. S. Hydrological trade-offs due to different land covers and land uses in the Brazilian Cerrado. HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES, v. 23, n. 3, p. 1263-1279, MAR 7 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

ROSALEM, LIVIA M. P.; WENDLAND, EDSON C.; ANACHE, JAMIL A. A. Understanding the water dynamics on a tropical forest litter using a new device for interception measurement. ECOHYDROLOGY, v. 12, n. 2 MAR 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

GOMEZ, DERLY; MELO, DAVI C. D.; RODRIGUES, DULCE B. B.; XAVIER, ALEXANDRE C.; GUIDO, RODRIGO C.; WENDLAND, EDSON. Aquifer Responses to Rainfall through Spectral and Correlation Analysis. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, v. 54, n. 6, p. 1341-1354, DEC 2018. Web of Science Citations: 1.

ANACHE, JAMIL A. A.; FLANAGAN, DENNIS C.; SRIVASTAVA, ANURAG; WENDLAND, EDSON C. Land use and climate change impacts on runoff and soil erosion at the hillslope scale in the Brazilian Cerrado. Science of The Total Environment, v. 622, p. 140-151, MAY 1 2018. Web of Science Citations: 9.

Determining forest litter interception in an area of the Cerrado sensu stricto. RBRH, v. 23, p. -, 2018.

PINHEIRO ROSALEM, LIVIA MALACARNE; AYACH ANACHE, JAMIL ALEXANDRE; WENDLAND, EDSON. Determining forest litter interception in an area of the Cerrado sensu stricto. RBRH-REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE RECURSOS HIDRICOS, v. 23, 2018. Web of Science Citations: 0.

ANACHE, JAMIL A. A.; WENDLAND, EDSON C.; OLIVEIRA, PAULO T. S.; FLANAGAN, DENNIS C.; NEARING, MARK A. Runoff and soil erosion plot-scale studies under natural rainfall: A meta-analysis of the Brazilian experience. CATENA, v. 152, p. 29-39, MAY 2017. Web of Science Citations: 20.