Title: Analysis of urban rivers' water quality using multivariate approach

Authors: Marcio Antônio Vilas Boas; Cristiano Poleto; Rodrigo Trevisani Juchen; Carlos Roberto Juchen

Addresses: Western Paraná State University, 2069 Universitária Street, 85819-110, Cascavel, PR, Brazil ' Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, 9500 Bento Gonçalves Street, 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil ' Federal Technological University of Paraná, 3165 Sete de Setembro, Rebouças, 80230-901, Curitiba, PR, Brazil ' Federal Technological University of Paraná, 19 Cristo Rei Street, 85902-490, Toledo, PR, Brazil

Abstract: This study performed a multivariate analysis about the water quality of rivers that go across the urban perimeter of Toledo - PR. For this study five rivers were chosen, where the physicochemical data of the water was collected as sediment samples to determine the amounts of copper and zinc with the use of spectrometry of optical emission with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES). The results showed that the physicochemical parameters were influenced by the contribution of anthropic pollution and explained the desorption of copper and zinc from the river bottom sediments. The control graphs demonstrated some results outside control limits, however the most part results inside the limits do not represent the best parameters of water quality. Therefore, it was concluded that the technique used is one relevant tool to interpret the behaviour of physicochemical parameters, allowing that the quality of water of rivers may be monitored.

Keywords: control limits; water bodies; water pollution; heavy metals; river sediments; urban rivers; water quality; cities; Brazil; copper; zinc; physicochemical data.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEE.2016.078238

International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2016 Vol.8 No.1, pp.30 - 43

Received: 14 Jun 2015
Accepted: 09 Apr 2016
Published online: 09 Aug 2016 *

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