Water quality in the Mondego river basin: Pollution and habitat heterogeneity

• Main Author: Ferreira, Verónica
• Publication Date: 2004
• Other Authors: Graça, Manuel, A. S., Feio, Maria João, Mieiro, Cláudia
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10316/98731
• topic: biological water quality; chemical water quality; habitat heterogeneity; BMWP’; calidad biológica del agua; calidad química del agua; heterogeneidad del hábitat; BMWP’

The “IMAR- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Coimbra” and “Direcção Regional de Ambiente e Ordenamento do Território” started a partnership with the objective of establishing bases for the assessment of water quality in the Mondego river basin. Here we present the preliminary results of the study. We sampled 75 sites covering the Mondego river basin. At each site we took 18 physical and chemical measurements and sampled macroinvertebrates with a hand net. Site quality was assessed by the application of a biotic index (BMWP’), water chemistry and habitat heterogeneity. Fifty two percent of the sites had good biological water quality (based on BMWP’ index). The strongly polluted sites were concentrated in the Lower Mondego region. Thirty three percent of sites had bad chemical water quality and 45% of the sites had low habitat complexity. Only 40% of the sites with low biological quality also had low chemical water quality. We concluded that (1) in general, the waters on the Mondego river basin do not suffer from strong water pollution and (2) low BMWP’ values can be explained by low water quality or low habitat heterogeneity (natural or man-made).