River Water Contamination Resulting from the Mariana Disaster, Brazil

Foesch, Meri Diana Strauss; Francelino, Marcio Rocha; Rocha, Pablo Azevedo; Gomes, Adalberto Rodrigues Lira

doi:10.1590/2179-8087.013218

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE, Conservation of Nature • Floresta Ambient. 27 (4) • 2020 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8087.013218 copy

River Water Contamination Resulting from the Mariana Disaster, Brazil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Following a disruption on November 5, 2015, the Gualaxo do Norte and Carmo Rivers received iron tailings from the Fundão Dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais, which affected the water’s physiochemical attributes. This study aimed to better understand the impact of this event by evaluating water quality variations, comparing results from previous studies and the limits established in the National Environmental Council (Conama), Resolution 357. For six months, water samples were collected monthly at six points, three in the Gualaxo do Norte River and three in the Carmo River. Turbidity, color, and dissolved metal values were recorded for thirty-six samples, and it was determined that the Gualaxo do Norte River had higher contamination levels than those established in the Conama Resolution 357. According to the results, this study recommends the development of specific analyses and a special water quality classification system.

Keywords:
pollution; physicochemical characteristics; water quality; environmental monitoring; environmental impact

Month	Precipitation (mm)
Month	10 days*	2016**	Normal***
April	0.3	43.4	55.8
May	2.8	3.3	28.8
June	4.4	74.4	11.5
July	0.3	0.3	15.3
August	0	9.2	14.8
September	2.3	93.9	39.3
Total		224.5	165.5

Point	Temperature	pH	Eh	EC	DS	Turbidity	Water color	Cr	Cu	Mn	Fe	Ni	Cd	Pb
Point	°C			μS/cm	mg/L	NTU	mg Pt/L	mg/L
Mean
1	21.3	6.2	172.0	0.100	0.042	7.5	22.5	0.002	0.010	0.059	0.127	0.004	0.003	0.040
2	21.6	6.2	191.3	0.085	0.040	7.0	22.2	0.005	0.010	0.051	0.138	0.008	0.005	0.043
3	22.2	6.1	198.0	0.080	0.042	360.2	370.2	0.007	0.021	0.262	2.595	0.009	0.005	0.040
4	22.0	6.1	215.3	0.075	0.038	316.3	341.7	0.003	0.024	0.250	3.253	0.008	0.005	0.041
5	21.8	6.1	230.8	0.075	0.038	328.7	344.3	0.004	0.022	0.260	3.140	0.014	0.007	0.033
6	23.0	6.1	225.5	0.088	0.043	88.8	96.4	0.004	0.020	0.091	0.481	0.010	0.005	0.040
Standard deviation
1	2.68	1.01	54.35	0.04	0.01	4.38	10.63	0.004	0.002	0.031	0.095	0.006	0.003	0.010
2	2.64	0.91	53.26	0.02	0.01	3.55	9.82	0.007	0.001	0.029	0.144	0.007	0.003	0.015
3	2.86	0.84	42.92	0.01	0	150.49	163.19	0.008	0.005	0.130	1.436	0.010	0.004	0.013
4	3.41	0.82	62.63	0.01	0	184.61	230.12	0.005	0.007	0.156	2.254	0.008	0.003	0.012
5	2.60	0.87	68.76	0.01	0	142.47	158.74	0.004	0.005	0.141	3.216	0.007	0.002	0.014
6	2.00	0.90	74.01	0.03	0.01	46.32	44.92	0.003	0.005	0.045	0.284	0.011	0.004	0.007
Coefficient of variation
1	0.13	0.16	0.32	0.42	0.28	0.59	0.47	1.69	0.21	0.53	0.75	1.39	0.99	0.25
2	0.12	0.15	0.28	0.23	0.16	0.51	0.44	1.59	0.11	0.57	1.05	0.94	0.69	0.35
3	0.13	0.14	0.22	0.16	0.10	0.42	0.44	1.11	0.24	0.50	0.55	1.11	0.77	0.32
4	0.15	0.13	0.29	0.07	0.11	0.58	0.67	1.81	0.29	0.62	0.69	0.97	0.65	0.30
5	0.12	0.14	0.30	0.11	0.11	0.43	0.46	1.07	0.21	0.54	1.02	0.50	0.35	0.43
6	0.09	0.15	0.33	0.29	0.32	0.52	0.47	0.77	0.25	0.49	0.59	1.08	0.82	0.17
Maximum values
1	24.5	7.4	248.0	0.2	0.1	15.1	36.5	0.010	0.012	0.113	0.240	0.013	0.007	0.050
2	25.0	6.9	273.0	0.1	0.1	13.4	34.0	0.016	0.012	0.091	0.372	0.019	0.010	0.066
3	26.0	6.9	247.0	0.1	0.1	580.0	628.0	0.018	0.025	0.441	4.683	0.026	0.010	0.050
4	27.0	7.0	300.0	0.1	0	635.0	773.0	0.013	0.033	0.464	7.234	0.020	0.009	0.056
5	26.0	7.1	306.0	0.1	0	550.0	618.0	0.009	0.026	0.435	9.126	0.023	0.009	0.055
6	25.0	7.1	320.0	0.1	0.1	168.0	175.0	0.008	0.026	0.166	0.752	0.023	0.010	0.047
Minimum values
1	18.0	4.5	111.0	0.1	0	2.4	9.5	0	0.006	0.025	0	0	0	0.024
2	18.0	4.6	132.0	0.1	0	2.8	9.5	0	0.009	0.025	0	0	0.001	0.030
3	18.0	4.7	150.0	0.1	0	171.0	172.0	0	0.011	0.104	0.606	0	0.001	0.020
4	18.0	4.9	154.0	0.1	0	145.0	139.0	0	0.012	0.111	1.325	0	0.001	0.022
5	18.5	4.8	150.0	0.1	0	155.0	168.0	0	0.013	0.104	0	0.006	0.003	0.011
6	20.0	4.7	149.0	0.1	0	35.0	55.0	0	0.011	0.033	0.067	0	0.001	0.031

Correlated variables	Turbidity	Color	Fe
Temperature	0.21	0.19	0.09
pH	-0.73	-0.72	-0.67
Eh	0.54	0.53	0.56
Electric conductivity	-0.83	-0.83	-0.86
Dissolved solids	-0.46	-0.49	-0.64
Turbidity	1	0.99	0.97
Color	0.99	1	0.98
Fe	0.97	0.98	1
Cr	0.35	0.32	0.14
Cu	0.88	0.88	0.86
Mn	0.99	0.99	0.98
Ni	0.59	0.58	0.58
Cd	0.68	0.68	0.71
Pb	-0.50	-0.49	-0.52

Physiochemical characteristics	“Class 2” Conama 357	Gualaxo do Norte River/2016
Physiochemical characteristics	“Class 2” Conama 357	21/04	24/05	20/06	07/07	10/08	12/09
Water temp. on-the-spot °C	Unlimited patterns	26.33	24.00	18.17	21.33	21.33	22.00
pH on-the-spot	6.0 to 9.0	6.50	6.90	4.80	5.87	5.87	7.00
Eh on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	243.3	273.0	274.3	183.0	183.0	161.0
Conductivity (mS/cm) on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	0.08	0.07	0.07	0.09	0.09	0.07
Dissolved solids (mg/L) on-the-spot	500	400	370	400	400	400	400
Turbidity (NTU)	100	588.3	304.3	225.6	296.6	296.6	438.3
Color (mg Pt/L)	75	673.0	336.6	222.3	306.6	306.6	414.0
Cr (mg/L)	0.05	0	0	0	0.01	0.01	0.01
Cu (mg/L)	0.09	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.03
Mn (mg/L)	0.10	0.43	0.22	0.14	0.22	0.22	0.43
Fe (mg/L)	0.30	7.01	3.62	1.71	1.62	1.62	3.29
Ni (mg/L)	0.025	0.003	0.004	0.011	0.009	0.009	0.021
Cd (mg/L)	0.001	0.002	0.004	0.005	0.006	0.006	0.009
Pb (mg/L)	0.01	0.02	0.03	0.04	0.04	0.04	0.05

Physiochemical characteristics	“Class 2” Conama 357	Carmo River downstream
Physiochemical characteristics	“Class 2” Conama 357	21/04	24/05	20/06	07/07	10/08	12/09
Water temp. °C on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	25	24	20	24	21	24
pH on-the-spot	6.0 to 9.0	6.8	6.7	4.7	5.9	5.6	7.1
Eh on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	255	294	320	180	149	155
Conductivity (mS/cm) on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	0.08	0.07	0.08	0.14	0.08	0.08
Dissolved solids (mg/L) on-the-spot	500	400	400	400	400	400	400
Turbidity (NTU)	100	35	87	88	103	52	168
Color (mg Pt/L)	75	56	109	78	105	55	175
Cr (mg/L)	0.05	0	0.005	0.004	0.001	0.008	0.007
Cu (mg/L)	0.09	0.020	0.026	0.020	0.020	0.011	0.023
Mn (mg/L)	0.10	0.03	0.10	0.09	0.10	0.06	0.17
Fe (mg/L)	0.30	0.21	0.73	0.63	0.50	0.07	0.75
Ni (mg/L)	0.025	0	0.018	0	0.001	0.017	0.023
Cd (mg/L)	0.001	0.001	0.008	0.001	0.002	0.007	0.010
Pb (mg/L)	0.01	0.04	0.04	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.05

Physiochemical characteristics	“Class 2” Conama 357	Carmo River amount
Physiochemical characteristics	“Class 2” Conama 357	21/04	24/05	20/06	07/07	10/08	12/09
Water temp. °C on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	24.7	23.7	18	19.5	20	22.5
pH on-the-spot	6.0 to 9.0	6.55	7.15	4.55	5.6	6.45	6.80
Eh on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	168	228	235	202	132	124
Conductivity (mS/cm) on-the-spot	Unlimited patterns	0.12	0.08	0.05	0.13	0.08	0.09
Dissolved solids (mg/L) on-the-spot	500	350	350	350	350	450	400
Turbidity (NTU)	100	7	6	8	3	5	14
Color (mg Pt/L)	75	35	32	17	10	15	25
Cr (mg/L)	0.05	0	0	0	0	0.01	0.01
Cu (mg/L)	0.09	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
Mn (mg/L)	0.10	0.03	0.08	0.04	0.03	0.05	0.10
Fe (mg/L)	0.30	0.06	0.26	0.19	0	0.05	0.24
Ni (mg/L)	0.025	0.005	0	0	0.010	0.010	0.010
Cd (mg/L)	0.001	0.002	0.001	0.001	0.005	0.006	0.010
Pb (mg/L)	0.01	0.04	0.03	0.04	0.05	0.04	0.03

Instituto de Florestas da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro Rodovia BR 465 Km 7, CEP 23897-000, Tel.: (21) 2682 0558 | (21) 3787-4033 - Seropédica - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: floram@ufrrj.br

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[1] CORRESPONDENCE TO Meri Diana Strauss Foesch Estrada Linha Principal, 1.180, Bairro Rural, CEP 98640-000, Crissiumal, RS, Brasil e-mail: meridiana.sf@gmail.com