Environmental Monitoring of Water Quality as a Planning and Management Tool: A Case Study of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

The Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon is an urban water body, representing one of the most popular spots for the local community. It underwent serious environmental degradation, at first through its water mirror reduction and more recently through sewer inflows. Concurrently, the difficulty in renewing the water combined with adverse climatic conditions has repeatedly led to an alarming fish mortality rate. The monitoring of its water quality has been carried out as a management and planning tool that lead to the improvement of the environmental conditions. This study seeks to assess monitoring results by correlating the factors that might be the cause of a failure to comply with environmental regulations. Although it is evident that particular places in the Lagoon might be more often affected by illegal sewer discharges, no evidence could be found of any variations between the six sampling points. However, the rise in the levels of Escherichia coli, nitrogen and phosphorus, and the general temperature conditions, pH, and salinity of the water shows that the most significant alterations occurred in spring 2018.The complexity of the period of phytoplankton growth followed by the fish mortality from anoxia underlines the need for monitoring as a tool for a better understanding of the alterations, providing guidance with regard to the planning and management of the ecosystem.