Contaminantes emergentes em rios de urbanos da região sub-tropical: estudo de caso nos rios Palmital e Belém

Abstract

Water resource management is a crucial aspect of ensuring sustainable and safe access to water for human, agricultural and industrial needs, as well as preserving aquatic ecosystems. However, the presence of emerging contaminants (Ecs) represents a significant challenge for this management. The existence of a substance that is not inclued in the list of convencional analyzes of surface waters, called emerging contaminants, Ecs, is a major problem for the contry, as without specific legislation that regulates them regularly and the increasingly high and accelerated consumption of humanity, only increases the concentracion of these in our rivers, linked to the little scientific knowledge about the effects of these substances on biota and the human organism, the need to provide objective solutions is perceived. Through analysis of the concentration data of Emerging Contaminants obtained in the Palmital and Belém rivers, specifically, from 2012 to 2017, it was shown that the Belém river has higher concentrations of Ecs, thus bringing a greater anthropic influence on the waters of this river. Caffeine as a marker of anthropogenic activity presented the highest valueat 23.08 ng/L in the Belém river, while in the Palmital river, the maximum presented was 3,48ng/L , this is due to the fact that the Belém river hydrographic basin be the highest population density.This work can help managers make decisions regarding the presence of Ecs in the Palmital and Belém rivers, as well as the entire basin where they are located.