Impacts of urban wastewater and hydrogeochemistry of the São Mateus River, Espírito Santo, Brazil

The waters of the River São Mateus and its tributaries, Abissínia and Preto do Sul, were analyzed to evaluate the impacts caused by the direct disposal of untreated domestic effluents generated on the city of São Mateus-ES, Brazil. Between the evaluated parameters, the most affected one was the diss...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental earth sciences 2017-05, Vol.76 (9), p.1, Article 334
Main Authors: Cotta, Aloísio J. B., Duboc, Luiz F., de Jesus, Honerio C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biogeosciences
Capacity
Composition
Depuration
Dissolved oxygen
Dissolved oxygen in river water
Domestic wastewater
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Effluent treatment
Effluents
Environmental impact
Environmental Science and Engineering
Eutrophication
Geochemistry
Geology
Household wastes
Hydrogeochemistry
Hydrology
Hydrology/Water Resources
Lanthanides
Lead
Mineral nutrients
Organic chemistry
Organic loading
Original Article
Phosphorus
Prototypes
Rivers
Self purification
Sodium
Sodium chloride
Terrestrial Pollution
Trace elements
Tributaries
Urban areas
Wastewater
Wastewater treatment
Water pollution
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The waters of the River São Mateus and its tributaries, Abissínia and Preto do Sul, were analyzed to evaluate the impacts caused by the direct disposal of untreated domestic effluents generated on the city of São Mateus-ES, Brazil. Between the evaluated parameters, the most affected one was the dissolved oxygen (DO) in Abissínia River, which is completely consumed. Regarding São Mateus River, the situation is worrisome because its self-depurative capacity is exceeded and by the elevated levels of phosphorus nutrient, which may lead to eutrophication. A prototype was built to carry out the respirometric characterization of the effluents, aiming to determine the DO consumption rate ( K 1 ). This constant was used in the self-depuration model, which shows the need of effluent treatment with a minimum efficiency of 60% in removing the organic load. The chemical characterization revealed similar sodium chloride composition for these waters with contrasting patterns of lanthanides. Despite the low levels of toxic trace elements registered at São Mateus River, the concentrations of Pb and As were higher in the Preto do Sul River. This finding requires further investigation to track the source of these elements.
ISSN:1866-6280
1866-6299
DOI:10.1007/s12665-017-6658-x