Evaluation of Water Quality of Buritis Lake

Abstract

The implementation of natural parks in cities is a current and controversial theme. Therefore, in Lake Buritis, which is a leisure area for the population of the city of Goiatuba, Goiás, Brazil, the quality of the water was analyzed, carrying out quantitative tests of the water samples at six different points between the source and the outlet of the lake that flows into the stream, Chico À Toa. Physical–chemical tests (turbidity, pH, alkalinity, electrical conductivity, color, nitrate and hardness parameters), microbiological tests for species identification, analysis of the antimicrobial susceptibility profile, metals analysis and Allium cepa test, were performed. The total coliforms number in water samples was higher than the maximum value established by Brazilian legislation, demonstrating high fecal contamination during the spring in samples from an artesian well. The bacterial diversity found was large and there were many pathogenic bacteria. The A. cepa test demonstrated a cytotoxic potential for water from the source and outlet of Buritis Lake. Statistical tests were applied to verify existing correlations between parameters. Among the analyzed data, the highest correlation was between the color and turbidity parameters and the grouping between the metals (lead, iron, cadmium and magnesium).