Probabilistic water quality parameters analysis for supporting Brazilian watercourses use classes definition processes

ABSTRACT

The present work aims to study the use of water quality probability curves for technical support of legal watercourse reaches water uses class definition. For the evaluation of the use of such curves, we used data from the Jucu River water quality. This is the main water source of the metropolitan region of Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil. From the accumulated distribution function, different physical, chemical and bacteriological water quality parameters probability curves were fitted to the monitoring data in order to evaluate frequencies of incompatibility with established legal standards corresponding to different Brazilian National Council CONAMA 357/2005 Resolution watercourse use classes. The incompatibility evaluation considered two different conditions: (1) unique, by aggregating all water quality parameters values for all different monitoring points; and (2) different water use classes along the Jucu River. Additionally, the influence of the hydrological regime seasonality on the probability curves was evaluated. The results indicated that total phosphorus and coliforms parameters presented high incompatibility frequencies, regardless of water use class (unique or different along the river) and season (dry or wet). The seasonal assessment showed that only the turbidity parameter presented significant differences among incompatibility frequencies, considering wet and dry periods of the hydrological year, and only for the CONAMA Resolution water use class 1.

Keywords:
water use classification; probability curve; water quality; Arci blaboriosa voloriorat adipsan ihilles unt aditat earum rat