Water Quality and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mantiqueira Ecological Corridor, Brazil

Gabriele Medeiros dos  Santos; Maria Leonor Ribeiro Casimiro  Lopes-Assad; Marcos Cicarini  Hott; Marcelo Henrique  Otenio

doi:10.4236/jep.2014.56053

JEP Vol.5 No.6 , May 2014

Water Quality and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mantiqueira Ecological Corridor, Brazil

Gabriele Medeiros dos Santos, Maria Leonor Ribeiro Casimiro Lopes-Assad, Marcos Cicarini Hott^*, Marcelo Henrique Otenio

Abstract: The presence of fecal coliforms is one of the determinants for classification of the quality of water bodies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the water quality and surrounding land use in the area known as the Mantiqueira Ecological Corridor, which straddles the borders of the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, in Brazil. More particularly, we studied ten municipalities in Minas Gerais located in the region surrounding Serra do Papagaio State Park and Ibitipoca State Park. We established a classification of water bodies in the area surrounding the collection points in drainage basins based on the principles of sustainability. Using TM/Landsat 5 images, SPOTMap mosaics and the SRTM digital elevation model, we correlated land use classes with the environmental contamination index and topographic characteristics of the area studied. The presence of agriculture and urban areas heightened the differences in water quality classification in the comparison between the dry and rainy seasons, while in forested areas there was a greater equilibrium, with the same classification between the two seasons.

Keywords: Atlantic Forest, Water Body Classification, Land Use, Drainage Basin

Cite this paper: Santos, G. , Lopes-Assad, M. , Hott, M. and Otenio, M. (2014) Water Quality and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mantiqueira Ecological Corridor, Brazil. Journal of Environmental Protection, 5, 500-508. doi: 10.4236/jep.2014.56053.

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