ESTIMATIVA DA VULNERABILIDADE À CONTAMINAÇÃO DAS ÁGUAS SUBTERRÂNEAS NA REGIÃO METROPOLITANA DE ARACAJU (SE)

Abstract

Groundwater plays a fundamental role in maintaining environmental balance and socioeconomic growth in urban and rural areas. The study of this water resource is extremely important, since intense exploitation and human activities impact the quantity and quality of groundwater. Vulnerability assessment helps identify areas most susceptible to groundwater contamination, in addition to promoting sustainable groundwater management. In this sense, this work aimed to map and spatialize vulnerability to groundwater contamination in the metropolitan region of Aracaju, using the GOD and IDW methods. For this, lithological data, degree of aquifer confinement and water level depth from 123 wells registered in the Groundwater Information System (SIAGAS) were used to obtain vulnerability using the GOD method and the vulnerability map through IDW interpolation. . Wells with low and medium vulnerabilities represent 46.34% and 12.19%, respectively, and 41.46% of wells have high vulnerability to contamination. These, in addition to the geological and hydrogeological characteristics intrinsically considered in the method, are located mainly in urbanized areas and agricultural and pasture areas, classes that increase the risk of contamination. In view of this, the importance of environmental planning in the process of land use and occupation is highlighted. In this sense, the results presented can be used as a tool in the licensing of projects that have the potential to generate contaminants.