INFLUENCE OF LAND USE ON WATER QUALITY OF WATERSHED GLóRIA MACAE - RJ

Land use has significant influence on water quality in a watershed. With this the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of land use on water quality in the watershed Glória Macaé. To see this influence, we performed an analysis of Pearson correlation between the parameters of water quality and land use. Data were collected between the months January to December 2007 and analyzed the following parameters: Alkalinity, Chloride, Hardness, Iron, Organic Matter, Total Nitrogen, pH, Potassium, Sodium, Total Solids, Sulfate, Turbidity. It is concluded that the areas occupied by secondary forest and capoeira favored the improvement of some parameters of water quality. Grazing areas not adversely affected the water quality in the watershed. The land uses agriculture, urban and bare soil negatively influenced significantly the turbidity and total solids in water, but due to their low percentage in the watershed did not affect water quality. The study on watershed level could represent the state of land use and its impact on water quality.