Water quality modeling for tropical agricultural watersheds

• Grant number: 14/19093-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 12, 2015
• Effective date (End): December 26, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Nature Conservation
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Alberto Vettorazzi
• Grantee: Kaline de Mello
• Supervisor: Timothy O. Randhir
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass Amherst), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/03586-6 - Forest conservation in maintaining water quality of watersheds, BP.DR

Abstract

Land cover and land management practices have been regarded as the key factors behind alterations in the hydrological system, which lead to the change in runoff as well as in the water quality. Forest cover can play an important role on the biogeochemical cycles in watersheds. Models have long been used in water resources management to guide decision-making and improve understanding of the watershed system. The hydrological models can be used to model and study different watersheds at different scales and, among other aspects, they allow one to understand the nutrients loadings and sediment losses. This information is important to understand the impact of the land-use/land-cover on surface water quality and contributes to watershed management. This project aims at the calibration and validation of a hydrological model for the stream flow and water quality data for tropical watersheds in an agricultural landscape. For this, stream flow and water quality data were collected between 2013 and 2014 from six small watersheds with different percentages of forest cover, in a rural area of Atlantic Rain Forest biome in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. For the input data in the model, the Digital Elevation Model at 5m resolution, climatic data from a climatic station near the study area and land use data mapped from SPOT image with 1:8,000 scale, will be used. The stream flow, nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen), turbidity, inorganic and organic particulate matter will be used for calibration in two scales: watershed and Riparian Zone - Permanent Preservation Area (PPA). The model will be tested at both scales for each water quality variable. The results will indicate important information about sediment losses and nutrient loadings in the watersheds and can generate information regarding the best strategies for the watershed management, prioritizing the maintenance of water quality. (AU)

Scientific publications

(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)

DE MELLO, KALINE; TANIWAKI, RICARDO HIDEO; DE PAULA, FELIPE ROSSETTI; VALENTE, ROBERTA AVERNA; RANDHIR, TIMOTHY O.; MACEDO, DIEGO RODRIGUES; LEAL, CECILIA GONTIJO; RODRIGUES, CAROLINA BOZETTI; HUGHES, ROBERT M.. Multiscale land use impacts on water quality: Assessment, planning, and future perspectives in Brazil. Journal of Environmental Management, v. 270, SEP 15 2020. (17/02455-6, 14/19093-1, 18/12341-0, 17/24028-2, 17/25383-0, 18/21612-8)

DE MELLO, KALINE; RANDHIR, TIMOTHY O.; VALENTE, ROBERTA AVERNA; VETTORAZZI, CARLOS ALBERTO. Riparian restoration for protecting water quality in tropical agricultural watersheds. ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING, v. 108, n. B, p. 514-524, NOV 2017. (14/19093-1)