Vulnerability and risk of contamination in unconfined aquifer in the urban area Rio Claro/SP

• Grant number: 14/07438-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Celso de Oliveira Braga
• Grantee: Fernanda Bacaro
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The study of vulnerability and risk of aquifers has high relevance, given the importance of these ones for many uses, mostly, for the public water supply, since 51 % of Brazil's water comes from underground sources. This study in the urban area of Rio Claro requires, firstly, some parameters to be determined, such as the depth of the aquifer, the aquifer type of occurrence, geological characteristics and thickness of the unsaturated layer and, secondly, the establishment of the degree of the aquifer vulnerability by GOD method, generating a georeferenced map of the study topic. With the vulnerability mapping, it will be possible to introduce contaminants such as landfills, cemeteries and gas stations, to determine the risks of the aquifer before these contaminants, generating another map, by the method of Foster & Hirata (1988) and IG/CETESB/DAEE (1997). At the same time, samples of groundwater will be collected and analyzed for physicochemical parameters such as turbidity, pH, temperature, conductivity, for example, in order to qualify the water. A map of the electrical conductivity of groundwater will be developed and related to the risk determined in the earlier study.