Quality of water used in urban in the city of Recife agriculture

Abstract

In the present study, the objective was to evaluate the physical-chemical and bacteriological quality of the water used for vegetable irrigation in an urban agricultural area at a cross road of BR-101 South in the city of Recife. Water samples were collected in six wells in the agricultural area. The water was collected during the dry season (October through December 2003) and the main physical-chemical characteristics (ECw, Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Cl^-, HCO^3-, N-NO^-3, N-NH⁴, pH and SAR) and bacteriological (fecal coliform) parameters were analyzed. The physical-chemical quality of the irrigation water did not present risk of soil salinization nor alkalinization, and neither any specific toxicity for the plants.

Key words:
water quality; urban agriculture; salinization; indirect reuse