A method to describe attenuation of river contamination under peak flows: Can the public water supply from Paraopeba River finally return after the Brumadinho dam disaster?

Autor: de Souza Rolim G; School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane, s/n, Jaboticabal, SP 14884-900, Brazil. Electronic address: glauco.rolim@unesp.br., Pacheco FAL; CQVR-Chemistry Center of Vila Real, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Ap. 1013, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal. Electronic address: fpacheco@utad.pt., do Valle Junior RF; Federal Institute of the Triângulo Mineiro, Campus Uberaba, Geoprocessing Laboratory, Uberaba, MG 38064-790, Brazil. Electronic address: renato@iftm.edu.br., de Melo Silva MMAP; Federal Institute of the Triângulo Mineiro, Campus Uberaba, Geoprocessing Laboratory, Uberaba, MG 38064-790, Brazil. Electronic address: mayte@iftm.edu.br., Pissarra TCT; School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane, s/n, Jaboticabal, SP 14884-900, Brazil. Electronic address: teresa.pissarra@unesp.br., de Melo MC; State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Administrative City of the State of Minas Gerais, Rodovia João Paulo II, 4143, Bairro Serra Verde, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: marilia.melo@meioambiente.mg.gov.br., Valera CA; Regional Coordination of Environmental Justice Promoters of the Paranaíba and Baixo Rio Grande River Basins, Rua Coronel Antônio Rios, 951, Uberaba, MG 38061-150, Brazil. Electronic address: carlosvalera@mpmg.mp.br., Fernandes LFS; CITAB-Centro de Investigação e Tecnologias Agroambientais e Biológicas, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Ap. 1013, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal. Electronic address: lfilipe@utad.pt., Moura JP; CITAB-Centro de Investigação e Tecnologias Agroambientais e Biológicas, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Ap. 1013, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal. Electronic address: jpmoura@utad.pt.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2024 Nov 01; Vol. 949, pp. 174970. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 25.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174970
Abstrakt: Tailings dams' disasters begin a stage of river water contamination with no endpoint at first sight. But when the river was formerly used for public water supply and the use was suspended as consequence of a dam break, a time window for safe suspension lift must be anticipated to help water managers. The purpose of this study was to seek for that moment in the case of Brumadinho dam disaster which occurred in 2019 and injected millions of cubic meters of iron- and manganese-rich tailings into the Paraopeba River, leading to the suspension of public water supply to Belo Horizonte metropolitan region with this resource, until now. To accomplish the proposed goal, an assemblage of artificial intelligence and socio-economic development models were used to anticipate precipitation, river discharge and metal concentrations (iron, manganese) until 2033. Then, the ratios of metal concentrations between impacted and non-impacted sites were determined and values representing extreme events of river discharge were selected for further assessment. A ratio ≈1 generally indicates a similarity between impacted and non-impacted areas or, put another way, a return of impacted areas to a pre-rupture condition. Moreover, when the ratio is estimated under the influence of peak flows, then a value of ≈1 indicates a return to pre-rupture conditions under the most unfavorable hydrologic regimes, thus a safe return. So, the extreme ratios were plotted against time and fitted to a straight line with intercept-x representing the requested safe time. The results pointed to 6.57 years after the accident, while using iron as contaminant indicator, or 8.71 years when manganese was considered. Despite of being a relatively low-risk timeframe, the suspension lift should be implemented in phases and monitored for precaution of potential sporadic contamination events, while dredging of the tailings from impacted areas should continue and be accelerated.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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