Modelagem da qualidade bacteriológica das águas costeiras de Fortaleza (Nordeste do Brasil)

Abstract

The environmental modeling is an important tool for studies and projects involving environmental management, due to the complexity of environmental systems. With it you can integrate a large number of variables and processes in order to obtain a dynamic view of such systems and assess their present and future conditions. This paper presents the results of modeling the bacteriological quality of the water in the coastal area of ​​Fortaleza (Brazil), and against several entries contaminant loads in them. Fecal coliform, used as indicators of quality of bathing waters by Brazilian standards, were numerically modeled using SisBaHiA (System Base Environmental Hydrodynamics), using contaminant loads from three different sources: rivers, storm sewer and outfall . The models were implemented to represent the changes in decay forward to solar radiation and other environmental factors. Values ​​were relatively close results between modeled and monitored in the field in different scenarios. The results showed that the storm sewers are the most important sources of pollution, accounting for episodes of non-compliance with water quality standards for bathing, especially during rainy periods. Moreover, the results showed no risk of the outfall plume reaching Fortaleza bath areas the city beaches.