UTILIZAÇÃO DE SISTEMAS DE WETLANDS CONSTRUÍDOS PARA TRATAMENTO DE ÁGUAS

Abstract

The conservation of water quality in rivers is extremely important. The agricultural area in Brazil is extensive, and the use of different fertilizers can cause several environmental problems, directly impacting the quality of rivers. If the soil is not properly managed, leaching of organic compounds may occur, causing siltation, eutrophication and changes in the aquatic biota. In order to minimize the impacts in areas of agricultural predominance or remedy rivers that do not have their protective riparian forests, it is proposed the study of a protection belt in the riverbeds, following the observation of flooded areas, using the wetlands system as eco technology, or constructed wetlands. The macrophyte chosen for the research was Cyperus Papyrus, popular name Papyrus, for being an emerging macrophyte and well adaptable to adverse climate situations and throughout the Brazilian region. Therefore, the objective of this work was to carry out the treatment of water in an urban river in the city of Jaboticabal, using Wetlands built with the macrophyte ´´Papyrus``, and to test its capacity to remove nitrogen and phosphorus inputs. The values of nitrite and nitrate, in most of the experiment, were within the limits allowed by law. Removals of orthophosphate, ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrite and nitrate were observed in wetlands using papyrus, indicating that the use of these systems can be a viable alternative for improving water quality.