Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: TEOBALDO GABRIEL DE SOUZA JÚNIOR

Açude Grande de Cajazeiras-PB: an analysis of its waters and their possible uses

water quality, surface reservoir, remote water monitoring, aquatic pollution

Water resources are the most essential abiotic elements for the maintenance of life, as well as for the execution of other biological relations of the planet. Even though it is aware of the importance of water, society's neglect of this scarce good, coupled with the pressures exerted by the population's predatory demands, which are closely allied to the disorderly growth of urban centers, end up contaminating many sources, forcing the search by their meager supply at increasingly distant points of human densities. This situation is especially serious in the semi-arid regions of the Earth, a reality of which the sertão of the Brazilian Northeast forms part. The Northeastern Administrative Region, although possessing the second largest population of Brazil, has the lowest water volume in the country, and yet it presents many situations of carelessness with this precious element. The dam Senador Epitácio Pessoa, known in the locality as Açude Grande, is in the city of Cajazeiras-PB, one of the 1,262 municipalities inserted in the drought polygon. This superficial reservoir, built by the Federal Government in the context of the 1915 drought, is now degraded, with its waters receiving direct effluent discharge. Therefore, what is intended with this project is: to carry out a study of the historical evolution of the importance of the waters of the reservoir in the region; to evaluate the loss of the quality of its waters, applying the Index of Trophic State; to relate the urban growth and the increase of concentrations of pollutants and contaminants found in its waters, using remote sensing and geoprocessing techniques; and to see how the population currently sees and uses the spring.