Groundwater Recharge Potential for Sustainable Water Use in Urban Areas of the Jequitiba River Basin, Brazil

Adriana Monteiro da Costa, Hugo Henrique Cardoso de Salis, João Hebert Moreira Viana and Fernando António Leal Pacheco
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Adriana Monteiro da Costa: Federal University of Minas Gerais, 6620 Antônio Carlos Ave., Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil
Hugo Henrique Cardoso de Salis: Federal University of Minas Gerais, 6620 Antônio Carlos Ave., Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil
João Hebert Moreira Viana: Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Maize and Sorghum), Sete Lagoas, MG 35701-97, Brazil
Fernando António Leal Pacheco: CQVR—Chemistry Research Centre, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados Ap. 1013, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: The zoning of groundwater recharge potential would be attractive for water managers, but is lacking in many regions around the planet, including in the Jequitiba River basin, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In this study, a physically based spatially distributed method to evaluate groundwater recharge potential at catchment scale was developed and tested in the aforementioned Jequitiba River basin. The data for the test was compiled from institutional sources and implemented in a Geographic Information System. It comprised meteorological, hydrometric, relief, land use, and soil data. The average results resembled the annual recharge calculated by a hydrograph method, which worked as validation method. The spatial variation of recharge highlighted the predominant contribution of flat areas, porous aquifers, and forested regions to groundwater recharge. They also exposed the negative effect of urbanization. In combination, these factors elected the following sectors of the Jequitiba River basin as regions of high recharge potential: the south-southeast part of the headwaters in Prudente de Morais; Sete Lagoas towards the central part of the basin; and the region between Funilândia and Jequitiba, near the Jequitiba river mouth. Some management practices were suggested to improve groundwater recharge. The map of groundwater recharge potential produced in this study is valuable and is therefore proposed as tool for planners in the sustainable use of groundwater and protection of recharge areas.

Keywords: groundwater recharge; recharge zones; river basin; spatialization; relief; geology; forest; urbanization; water resource management; land use policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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