Spring protection and watercourse and its relationship with environmental quality in family property, in the Caparaó region of Espírito Santo, Brazil

Sara Carvalho Failla,Fábio Luiz De Oliveira,Leonard Campos Avellar Machado,Lidiane Dos Santos Gomes Oliveira,Hélia De Barros Kobi,Davi Salgado De Senna

doi:10.18378/rvads.v16i2.8326

Abstract

Inappropriate use and management of land has generated processes of environmental degradation, in which the increasing removal of forest coverage has impaired the hydrological cycle, water and soil quality. The objective of this work is to know the effects of the protection of the spring, and the initial part of its watercourse, on the environmental conditions in a family property. The study was carried out on the property located in the Rainha da Paz Community, in Alegre-ES, using indicators used for environmental monitoring, at the beginning in September 2013 and after one year (September 2014) of the Water Planters Project. The quality indicators used in the evaluation clearly show that the initial situation in the spring APP, and APP around the main watercourse was inadequate, in several indicators mainly due to the occupation of the area with agricultural use, specifically pasture, occurring cattle trampling within a radius of 50 meters of the spring's permanent preservation area, causing soil compaction and silting, showing a high degree of degradation, reflecting the lack of environmental adequacy, thus not complying with current environmental legislation. The project promoted improvements in the environmental conditions of the family property, through the natural regeneration of native species, bringing gains to the floristic composition, in addition to improvements in the soil conditions.

Highlights

Water is one of the most important elements for life on Earth, being used by humans for different purposes such as human supply, agriculture, electricity generation, navigation, industrial supply, among others (BONFIM et al, 2019)
Water scarcity has become a chronic problem worldwide, being justified by the way in which water has been used, threatening the socioeconomic growing situation coupled with environmental protection (RIBEIRO; ROLIM, 2017; CRISPIM et al, 2020)
The present study was carried out in a family rural property, which is located in the watershed of Córrego São Esperidião, Rural community Rainha da Paz, in the district of Araraí from Alegre – ES municipality, located at Caparaó region of Espírito Santo (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Water is one of the most important elements for life on Earth, being used by humans for different purposes such as human supply, agriculture, electricity generation, navigation, industrial supply, among others (BONFIM et al, 2019). Inadequate exploitation of natural resources in an unbridled way, through deforestation activities, inadequate agricultural practices, aggressive extractive activities, the indiscriminate construction of dams, the industrial and domestic discharge of sewage into rivers and lakes, promote numerous environmental problems, especially in riparian forests and spring areas (VALENTE; GOMES, 2011). “spring” is the term that defines an environmental system in which groundwater outflow occurs naturally in a temporary or perennial way, integrating the drainage network. This process is responsible, partiatly, for the energy entry into the system and dependent on the interception of the water table by local topography (FELIPPE, 2009). The spring water forms a small stream that contributes to an increase in the water voulme in other watercourses (SILVA JÚNIOR, 2015), and the conservation of these springs is vitally dependent on the maintenance of vegetation coverage in its surroundings

Objectives

Methods

Results