Estudo da degradação ambiental da bacia do riacho de Bodocongó, Campina Grande-PB.

Abstract

The Bodocongo Dam is located in the city of Campina Grande (Paraiba state, Brazil), in the Brazilian Northeast semi-arid, inside the Agreste mesorregion; which is located in the east side of the Borborema Plateau, standing on Mid Paraiba Basin. Its geographical coordinates are 7 °13'50" of south latitude and 35°52'52" of west longitude. It was built in 1917 at the confluence between Bodocongo and Caracois Rivers, with the purpose of increasing the water supply of the municipality and avoiding water scarcity in the region, since the existing reservoirs (Acude Velho and Agude Novo) could not completely supply the water needs of the population. Nowadays Bodocongo Dam is being intensely affected and changed by urbanization, industrial development, exploration and incorrect land uses on its surrounding areas, what is being source of environmental degradation like: invasions of permanently protected areas, pollution of water resources, water wasting, drainage changing, environmental degradation, erosion and silting, among others. This work had as objective to diagnose the processes of environmental degradation practiced throughout the basin area of the dam, using geoprocessing technics, digital images analysis, evaluation of photographic records and field visits. The results by comparing these images and data for the years of 1989 and 2007, seeking to have a systematic understand of the dynamics in this basin. The results showed that the area along the river is highly degraded by anthropogenic activities, with a high rate of silting, what could compromise the future existence of the dam. Thus, it is necessary to control the various processes of degradation involved, through educational campaigns to make the people who live near the area of the basin more conscientious about the Bodocongo Dam importance and subsequently a strict audit, since this water resource is being used in different ways by the local community.