Qualitative characteristics of water resulting from the introduction of Eucalyptus silviculture in Pampa biome, RS

ABSTRACT This study aimed to present the effect on surface water quality of the introduction of eucalyptus forestry in areas that were traditionally used for extensive cattle farming in the Pampa biome, by comparing two paired watersheds located in the municipality of Rosário do Sul, one of them used for forestry and the other in an anthropized natural grassland condition in the Pampa biome. For this purpose, every fifteen days the following parameters were collected and analyzed in two watersheds with different land uses (watershed with grassland and extensive livestock farming – GW and watershed with Eucalyptus - EW) between the months of August 2011 and August 2012: pH, EC, temperature, turbidity and concentrations of SO42-, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, BOD5,20, SS, DS, alkalinity, total coliforms and Escherichia coli. Water quality and land use parameters averages were compared using the t-Test to account for the land use and seasonality. It was concluded that the introduction of forestry activity together with the areas of environmental protection required by the Brazilian legislation (Permanent Preservation Areas - PPA plus Legal Reserve - LR), contributed to the increased concentrations of conductivity, dissolved solids, alkalinity and calcium, and the decreased concentrations of total coliforms and Escherichia coli.