Groundwater Use and Protection in the Petrochemical Complex Region, Camaçari, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

The Petrochemical Complex Region (COPEC) is located on the top of a huge aquifer (10,000 km2, with average thickness of 600m), chiefly composed of undifferentiated deposits of coarse to fine sands and gravels with lenses of interbedded silts and clays. This paper provides an overview of the problems, and proposes the data and organization requirements for developing a local groundwater protection program. The freshwater reserves (120 billion m3 and global groundwater flow to rivers of 3 billion m3/yr) may be considered a resource of unusually high value. The issue of contamination with Synthetic Organic Chemicals (SOCs) and toxic metals was first raised during the mid 1980s. This poses significant water quality problems and imposes special restrictions on the industrial development in this area, mostly because few high-quality alternative sources of drinking water remain in proximity to a human population of 3.5 million people. The policy of neglect cannot be continued without grave threats to human health.