The risks of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds (P&EDC) to the environment and human health are a current topic of interest. Hundreds of P&EDC may reach the environment, hence, there is a need to rank the level of concern of human exposure to these compounds. Thus, this work aimed at setting a priority list of P&EDC in Brazil, by studying their occurrence in raw and drinking water, calculating health guideline values (GV), and estimating the risks of population exposure to water intake. Data on the Brazilian pharmaceutical market as well as published data of the monitoring of Brazilian natural and drinking water have been collected by means of an exhaustive literature review. Furthermore, many foreign data were also collected to enable a comparison of the values found in Brazilian studies. A list of 55 P&EDC that have the potential to be found in Brazilian water is proposed, and for 41 of these a risk assessment was performed by estimating their margin of exposure (ME), by considering their occurrence in drinking water, and guideline values estimated from reported acceptable daily intake (ADI) data. For seven compounds the risk was deemed high (three estrogens and four anti-inflammatories), whereas for another seven compounds, it was regarded as an ‘alert’ situation. Although such risk analysis is conservative, since it has been calculated based on the highest reported P&EDC concentration in drinking water, it highlights the need to enhance their monitoring in Brazil to strengthen the database and support decision makers. An analysis of the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance agents (antibiotics, resistant bacteria, and resistance genes) in surface waters was also carried out and confirmed that such agents are present in water sources throughout Brazil, which deserves the attention of policy makers and health agents to prevent dissemination of antimicrobial resistance through water use.

The generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been crescent. Due to this, there is a growing concern about MSW disposal. Whitin a scenario of limited financial resources, the management of MSW may be a challenge for Brazilian municipalities. Indicators can be effective instruments for assessing MSW management, as well as local socioeconomic and socio-environmental aspects. Thus, this work aimed at characterizing the MSW management in regions of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais through an analysis of socioeconomic and sustainability indicators, considering the 10 years since the Brazilian National Solid Waste Policy. For this purpose, indicators of MSW management and socioeconomic development of municipalities of Minas Gerais were analyzed. The statistical analysis evidenced some characteristics reported in literature. Furthermore, MSW management indicators were not directly related to the available data on basic sanitation in the territories. Results also evidenced a lack of financial and economic sustainability of MSW management in the municipalities.

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a distribuição espacial da precipitação pluviométrica da bacia hidrográfica do rio Paraíba do Sul entre os anos de 1988 a 2018. Para tal, foram adquiridos dados de precipitação acumulada mensal, precipitação máxima mensal e número de dias de chuva no mês, de 86 estações pluviométricas extraídos da plataforma Hidroweb disponibilizada pela Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA). Após análise e tratamento de inconsistências nos dados das séries extraídas, foram realizados cálculos para obtenção das chuvas médias da bacia a partir do método de Thiessen, e realizadas análises estatísticas a fim de avaliar possíveis diferenças significativas entre os meses do ano em relação às precipitações médias acumuladas mensalmente, bem como entre os números de dias de chuva mensais. Foram também construídos mapas de precipitação média mensal acumulada nos períodos seco e chuvoso utilizando-se o método de krigagem ordinária. Confirmou-se, com esse estudo, que a bacia apresenta uma grande variação pluviométrica intra-anual, e que a precipitação acumulada mensal tem significativa correlação (α = 0,05) com o número de dias com chuvas, como esperado. Observou-se que há grande variação espacial da pluviometria, evidenciada pela existência de cinco tipos climáticos na bacia. Com a aplicação do Índice de Anomalia de Chuva foi possível observar que houve períodos atípicos positivos nos anos de 1996, 2008 e 2009, e negativos no ano de 2014. O teste de Mann-Kendall possibilitou avaliar que algumas estações apresentaram tendências significativas de acréscimo e outras de decréscimo de chuvas, sendo mais evidenciados pelos valores relativos ao número de dias de chuva, chegando à 20,9% de tendências de acréscimo no semestre chuvoso, a 95% de confiança, e 22,9% de tendências significativas de decréscimo no semestre seco. Por fim, com base nos parâmetros Sen’s slope, foi evidenciado incremento na probabilidade de ocorrência de eventos extremos diários de chuva em até 10% da área total da bacia.

Este é um artigo publicado em acesso aberto (Open Access) sob a licença Creative Commons Attribution, que permite uso, distribuição e reprodução em qualquer meio, sem restrições desde que o trabalho original seja corretamente citado.

COVID-19 pandemic has changed several aspects in human behaviour, whereas population mobility patterns have been strongly affected by social distancing. In parallel, changes in solid waste generation patterns have been reported worldwide. This work assessed the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on waste generation and collection in São Paulo city, Brazil, the largest city of Latin America. Data on nine types of wastes collected between 2013 and 2021 were obtained, and the quantities of wastes collected before and during the pandemic were compared. These data were also discussed in light of data on COVID-19 cases and rates of social distancing and mobility. An increase in the amount of recyclables collected during the first wave of COVID-19 (March to September 2020) was observed. Decreases in the quantities of construction, demolition and bulky wastes (first wave of COVID-19) and farmers market wastes (second wave – October 2020 to February 2021) were also evidenced. The quantities of medical wastes collected during the pandemic significantly increased. The amount of residential wastes was lower than the mean for the pre-pandemic period during the first months of COVID-19. Thus, changes in lifestyle and consumption patterns of the population of São Paulo city seem to have affected solid waste generation during the pandemic, which reinforces the need of implementing solid waste management policies based on a diagnostic that characterise and consider these changes.