Quali-quantitative vulnerability of surface water of the Water Resources Planning and Management Unit from Low Paranaiba River, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Abstract

The watersheds are territorial units for planning and management of water resources. In this context, the qualitative and quantitative diagnosis of surface water is an elementary step for decision making, especially in watersheds which have River Basin Committees and Agencies. It is important that data referring to water resources are observed spatially through cartographic products, reinforcing the importance of Geography in studies regarding environmental nature. Thus, this article aims to present a proposal to obtain the quali-quantitative vulnerability of surface water in watersheds. The study area defined for the research is the Water Resources Planning and Management Unit from Low Paranaíba River (UPGRH PN3), located in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The final synthesis map has been obtained from the overlapping of the following themes: natural availability of surface water, conflict areas for the water use and surface water quality. The high vulnerability is present in 6.54% of the study area, the average in 31.93%, the low in 43.90% and the very low in 15.56% of the UPGRH PN3 territory. Given these results, we expect to contribute to the implementation of guidelines for improving environmental quality in the study area and also that the procedure may be replicated in similar units.