This article presents the results of a case study carried out in the cemetery of Tabuleiro, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from August 2007 to March 2008. Five sampling wells were drilled within the cemetery area, and water samples analyzed for pH, conductivity, nitrogen ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrate, total phosphorus, sodium, potassium, calcium, manganese, BOD, COD, total coliforms and E. coli. The results demonstrated that the groundwater is subjected to contamination from burials leakage and the most evident impacts have been observed in the sampling well located downstream of the cemetery site.

ResumoEsta pesquisa teve como objetivo a criação do Índice de Qualidade da Água em Resposta à Fragilidade Ambiental (IQAFA) e a determinação dos níveis de fragilidade ambiental da Bacia do Rio Almada, Bahia. O mapa de fragilidade ambiental foi obtido a partir da integração das características: precipitação pluviométrica, substrato rochoso, declividade, solo e seu uso e ocupação, por meio de álgebra de mapas em ambiente de Sistema de Informação Geográfica na escala de 1:100.000. Foi classificado em cinco graus de fragilidade: Muito baixo, Baixo, Médio, Alto e Muito alto. As maiores fragilidades incluem as áreas urbanas, os sedimentos arenosos expostos na zona de praia, manguezais e bolsões degradados da planície costeira localizados na porção Leste e as áreas de pastagem e solo exposto nas porções Oeste da bacia. Nas classes que apresentaram fragilidade baixa estão incluídas as rochas do embasamento cristalino, recobertas pela floresta de mata atlântica e da cabruca. Os parâmetros utilizados (temperatura, condutividade elétrica, pH, sólidos totais e turbidez) para o cálculo do IQAFA mostraram-se adequados, uma vez que as alterações da qualidade das águas refletiram a presença de áreas com menor ou maior valor de fragilidade ambiental, tornando-se uma ferramenta importante na compreensão da situação da qualidade da água frente a essa fragilidade. Ressalta-se que os resultados obtidos para o IQAFA foram validados por meio de correlações estatísticas com a fragilidade baixa e alta.Palavras-chave: uso e ocupação do solo; sistema de informação geográfica; planejamento ambiental; Bacia do Rio Almada. AbstractRelationship water quality and environmental fragility of Almada River Watershed, Bahia, Brazil. The aim of this research is the creation of a Water Quality Index in Response to Environmental Fragility (WQIEF) and the determination of environmental fragility levels of Almada River Watershed, Bahia, Brazil. The environmental fragility map was generated from the integration of rainfall characteristics, geology, slope, soil, land use and occupation, through map algebra manipulated in a Geographical Information System. Fragility was divided into five degrees: Very low, Low, Medium, High and Very high. Major fragilities include urban areas, sandy sediments areas exposed at coastline, mangrove, degraded coastal areas located at East portion of study area; pasture areas and soil-exposed areas at West portion of the watershed. Low fragility classes include crystalline basement rocks covered by rainforest and Cocoa Agroecosystems. The parameters (temperature, conductivity, pH, total solids and turbidity) used for the calculation of WQIEF were adequate, since changes in water quality reflected the presence of areas with higher or lower environmental fragility value, becoming an important tool in understanding the situation of water quality against the environmental fragility. It is noteworthy that the results obtained for WQIEF were validated through correlations with low and high environmental fragility.Keywords: land use a...

Autoclaving is among the techniques used to treat health services waste belonging to the most applied group of biohazards and sharps. However, a shortcoming of the autoclaving treatment involves the operational parameters and appropriate frequency for monitoring the process because there is limited scientific evidence for using the optimal parameters. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the autoclaving process, using biological and chemical indicators, at different temperatures and exposure times, in three enterprises that provide services of autoclaving health care waste. To this end, partnerships were signed with three private enterprises and an operational procedure was developed to conduct real-scale tests under three different scenarios, using temperatures of 150, 132, and 125°C at 15min exposure times and reduced exposure times (4 or 10 min). The results showed that among the three projects, a statistically significant difference between exposure times of 15 min and 4 min of the healthcare waste under Scenario 2, at a temperature of 132°C, only occurred in one case. However, modification of the exposure time and/or operational temperature requires further studies as well as confirmation from an environmental agency.