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Water Toxicity Assessment of the Ceará River Estuary (Brazil)

2007; Volume: 2; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5132/jbse.2007.02.003

2317-9643

Jeamylle Nilin, Caroline Beserra de Castro, Marcionília Fernandes Pimentel, W. Franklin Júnior, R. F. G. de Matos, T. M. C. Lotufo, Letícia V. Costa‐Lotufo,

Agricultural and Food Sciences

The Ceará River Basin is one of the three major water sources of the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza, Ceará State, Brazil. As an urban river, it receives domestic and industrial effluents, but the impacts of such discharges were not properly investigated. This research focused on the evaluation of the quality of the Ceará river estuary using the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus embryo-larval toxicity test. Four sampling stations were distributed along the estuary, and the water samples were collected monthly from March 2004 through February 2005. The physical-chemical analyses showed a gradient of salinity and pH from the inner part of the estuary towards the river mouth, while dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature values were very similar among the stations. Toxicity occurred in three of four surveyed stations, especially at S1 and S2, where the effects were more evident. The higher toxicity at these stations may be related to the proximity to the confluence between Ceará River and Maranguapinho River, which carries effluents from Maracanaú’s Industrial District.