ESTUDOS DE INFILTRAÇÃO DE ÁGUA NO SOLO EM DIFERENTES COBERTURAS VEGETAIS PARA IMPLANTAÇÃO DE NOVOS LOTEAMENTOS URBANOS NA REGIÃO SUDOESTE DO PARANÁ

Abstract

The progress of urbanization without proper planning and the accelerated population growth of cities cause environmental impacts that change the original conditions of a certain region. The most noticeable impact is the increase in surface runoff, motivated by the disorderly use of the soil, which increases the percentage of waterproofed areas and reduces the natural areas of infiltration. The waterproofing that results from urban expansion transforms the natural characteristics of the space and alters the infiltration processes. Soil infiltration comprises the process by which water crosses the soil surface, and the knowledge of this variable is of great importance for urban planning and the proper management of urban soil. The action of infiltration in a given type of soil depends on the conditions of use of the soil which indicate the possibilities of surface permeability. An indicator of the impact of land use change is the study of the behavior of the infiltration process, since, by changing the use, the surface waterproofing intensity changes, modifying the infiltration conditions. In this perspective, the present research presents an experimental study, which evaluates the infiltration of water in the soil with different uses (agriculture, pasture and forest), aiming to quantify the infiltration capacity of water in the soil of the study areas, and to demonstrate the community that in an environmental education process it is possible to improve the quality of drainage. Three areas were selected for implementation of this study, in the expansion zones of the municipality, in places of new urban subdivisions, located respectively in the North, South and East of Pato Branco/PR. The results were obtained through the evaluation of the infiltration capacity in the different types of soil under the hydraulic conductivity and the variation of some physical parameters of the soil. This study validates the parameters studied, since it obtained a 86% reduction in the percolation rate of agricultural use compared to forest use and 63% of agricultural use compared to pasture use. The infiltration rate showed great variation in pasture and agriculture uses, with lower infiltration capacity. On the other hand, forest use showed a higher rate of infiltration, with a lower dispersion of the infiltration rate being observed. Each use presents different infiltration dynamics, although they are all part of the same territorial unit and with the same geomorphology. Thus, it can be said that in this study, variations in infiltration capacity were evidenced, concluding that infiltration in the agricultural area is reduced, compared to forest and pasture areas that present a more adequate management of the soils. And even though there is legislation that guides the occupation zones and their respective rates, the lack of planning in the occupation of the soil contributes to a high percentage of waterproofed area in them, resulting in greater surface runoff in periods of rain.