STUDY ON WATER QUALITY OF THE ITANHÉM RIVER, BETWEEN MUNICIPALITIES OF MEDEIROS NETO AND TEIXEIRA DE FREITAS, IN THE EXTREME SOUTH OF BAHIA.
Water quality, effluent, self-purification.
Water, according tothe terms of article 1, item I, of Law 9,433 / 97, is considered a public domain resource.Thus, the establishment of quality standards is an extremely important measure, since this resource is indispensable for the maintenance of life, as we know it on Earth. In this context,the main objective of this work was to evaluate the water quality of the Itanhém river, taking into account the effluents discharged directly into the body of water,in the stretch of the road between the counties of Teixeira de Freitas and Medeiros Neto,located in Southern part of Bahia state. Usingthe HI 9829 HANNA Instruments® multiparameter probe, with readings taken on the spot to obtain the following parameters: ORP (Oxidation and Reduction Potential), OD (Dissolved Oxygen), pH (Hydrogen Potential), salinity , temperature, resistivity, conductivity and TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). In addition to these parameters, laboratory analyzes were performed to obtain Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate, BOD, and Thermotolerant Coliformsconcentrations. All the parameters analyzed were used to measure the water quality of the highlighted river, both near the urban agglomerations, where effluent discharges with high loads of organic matter were found, which contribute to the deterioration of water quality, as well as far from these urban areas, which are thereforefarther from effluent discharge points. This procedure was performed in order to obtain comparative data between points near the effluent releases and others more distant from them.