Avaliação ambiental das bacias de captação de água no estado de Goiás

Abstract

Considering the assumption of limited natural resources, it is clear that preservation initiatives are essential for maintaining a balanced socio-environmental system. The change in land use over the past decades in the Cerrado biome shows an occupation focused on activities predominantly of agriculture and cattle ranching, with public and fiscal incentives, which guaranteed access to producers and large companies to new technologies and methods to make the biome, a world reference in the production of commodities. The expansion of the agricultural frontiers from the second half of the 20th century on, made the Goiás state a reference in agribusiness, which leveraged the regional economy. However, these occupation processes have directly affected many environmentally fragile areas, which can directly impact the natural resource base for all production processes, water. The Goiás state has 192 hydrographic basins for public supply in which their collection points are managed by SANEAGO, the sanitation company, which in recent years has been reporting recurrences of emergency situations in the water supply of municipalities in periods of drought, which directly affects the populations of the municipalities supplied. Thus, this study aimed to identify the change in land use and occupation in the water catchment areas of the state, correlating data on precipitation and factors that identify areas of environmental fragility. The results obtained showed that in the water supply watersheds of the Goiás municipalities there has been no change in rainfall intensities. However, the catchments located in the central-southern portion of the state of Goiás have their native vegetation cover impacted due to the occupation processes, which occurred without planning, enabling the increase of erosive processes, affecting the production of sediments, besides the water recharge. It is important that the Goiás state develops specific policies aimed at the sustainable use of water catchment areas, seeking the preservation of native vegetation in environmentally fragile areas of these watersheds, thus ensuring the water security of the municipalities.