Groundwater quality characterization using water quality indexes in Riachão do Jacuípe, Bahia

Abstract

Groundwater represents a most important resource for supplying rural communities in semi-arid regions. Water scarcity, reported in papers, requires that available information on water quality are knewn and disseminated as one ways to manage and conserve existing reserves. The main objective of this study is to characterize deep wells´ waters of Riachão do Jacuípe (BA) region, by means of Water Quality Indexes (WQI), in order to provide the residents, managers and decision makers, a simple way to inform the water quality  provided to the community. The study also investigated the uses and water treatment, in order to suggest measures for mitigate possibles failures. For these purposes, the results of water analyzes provided by the Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado da Bahia and the community surveys with the is used. This paper is an relevant contribution for understanding the relationship between water quality and the vulnerability of rural communities in the semi-arid region. These goals has been achieved with the use three methodologies of Water Quality Indexes (WQI): IQA CETESB, CCME WQI e-IQUAS, applied to twelve water samples, for which were evaluated twenty parameters. The results showed convergence in the characterization established in the three methodologies, all the samples were classified as "bad". The application of indexes proved to be adequate, however it was acknowledged that such mechanisms should be associated with other evaluation resources. As for users' feeling to water access, the results suggest that residents need better to know the relationship between water quality and possible health risks. The dissemination of water quality indexes can be an effective mechanism in this task, allowing the population, managers and decision makers determine actions to mitigate the deficiencies perceived.