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Challenges for contact recreation in a tropical urban lake: assessment by a water quality index

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Abstract

Water pollution control is challenging in catchments affected by ‘informal’ urban development. Lake Pampulha, an impoundment that is a major tourist focus within the municipality of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, provides an example of degradation of aquatic environments by disorganised urbanization. We evaluated the current recreational suitability of the lake using state government monitoring data (2012-2017) with reference to Brazilian legislation and a water quality index for contact recreation in Brazilian freshwaters, considering E. coli (indicating faecal pollution and microbial hazards), cyanobacterial density (health risks and aesthetic quality), turbidity (aesthetics and safety associated with visual clarity), and pH (safety and eye-comfort). Our results show that, despite investments in pollution control, the recreational water quality of Lake Pampulha remains very poor. Contact recreation was most limited by persistent cyanobacterial blooms, but also faecal contamination and low visual water clarity. The effects of high phosphorus loading and faecal contamination from unsewered domestic wastewater is exacerbated by a tropical climate, promoting stable thermal stratification (favouring cyanobacterial dominance) and turbid wet-season runoff. Water quality indexing is a powerful tool not just for interpreting and communicating multiple metrics affecting water resources, but also for guiding rehabilitation efforts and tracking progress.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (PRPq/UFMG) for a scholarship - PIBIC/CNPq to Juliana Silveira. Funding support was provided by NIWA’s strategic investment fund via project FWWQ1908 (“Recreational water quality – Beyond E.coli”) led by Dr Rebecca Stott. Dr. Louise Vick (The Arctic University of Norway) and Dr. Stott are thanked for helpful advice and review comments on an early draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geosciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Frederico Azevedo Lopes, Júlia Piazi, Juliana Souza Silveira & Andrea Coelho Leite

  2. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd – NIWA, Gate 10 Silverdale Road, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Rob Davies-Colley

  3. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Natália Isabel Azevedo Lopes

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  1. Frederico Azevedo Lopes
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  2. Rob Davies-Colley
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  4. Juliana Souza Silveira
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  5. Andrea Coelho Leite
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  6. Natália Isabel Azevedo Lopes
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Correspondence to Frederico Azevedo Lopes.

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Lopes, F.A., Davies-Colley, R., Piazi, J. et al. Challenges for contact recreation in a tropical urban lake: assessment by a water quality index. Environ Dev Sustain 22, 5409–5423 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00430-4

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