Analysis of water quality in springs in different types of land use using the soil-cement method

Abstract

For a long time, spring water was considered pure and clean due to the natural filtration that occurs during the infiltration and movement of spring water through deep and shallow aquifers. However, due to the increase in anthropogenic activities, spring water has shown contamination problems. Various methods for spring recovery are found in the literature, especially in rural areas where spring water is used to supply the population. In the southeast region of the state of Paraná, Brazil, farmers have been applying the soil-cement method to improve the quality of spring water. However, there are few studies on the efficiency of this method. The objective of this article is to evaluate whether there has been an improvement in water quality after three years of using the soil-cement method in springs located in different types of land use (pasture, faxinal, forest, agriculture, and urban). Water samples were collected before the recovery, one year after, and three years after the recovery. At the end of the research, we observed an improvement in water quality, with areas with grazing animals showing the best recovery indices. Some parameters indicated significant improvement, such as E. coli, total coliforms, and turbidity.