Mapping the spatial distribution of water quality as a function of land use and occupation and rainfall in the Pará River Basin, MG

ABSTRACT The knowledge of the spatial distribution of water quality in a hydrographic basin becomes essential in the application of planning and management measures. Geostatistics, by predicting variables in non-sampled places without tendency, has been an appropriate technique in the study of environmental variables. Thus, the aim of this work was to map the spatial distribution of water quality, precipitation, and land use and occupation in the hydrographic Basin of the Pará River, in Minas Gerais (MG), through geostatistics. The quality and precipitation data, sampled at 25 points, between 1997 and 2018, from 15 climatological stations, were subjected to Pearson’s coefficient test. Kriging maps were generated for those that showed a strong and very strong correlation with each other. Maps of land use and occupation were also obtained. There was a difference in the distribution of precipitation between the dry and rainy periods, however, in both analyses, the greatest amount of rain occurred at the head of the Basin. As expected, the high levels of the variables nitrogen, phosphorus, thermotolerant coliforms, biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids and turbidity correlated with the areas of the Basin’s urban centers. Therefore, through ordinary kriging, it was possible to demonstrate the spatial behavior of variables related to water quality and land use and occupation.