MATA ATLÂNTICA DO RIO: MACACÚ (BRAZIL)

Water users/Stakeholder

Although not densely populated the basin plays a major role in terms of water management in the region since it supplies around 2.5 million people from the municipalities of Niterói, São Gonçalo, Paquetá and parts of Itaboraí with drinking water (UFF/FEC, 2010; Costa Dantas et al., 2007).
There are several water-related institutions acting in the region. The Insituto Estadual do Ambiente (INEA, Environmental State Insitute) is in charge of protected areas as well as a monitoring network (including discharge, water quality and precipitation). The Companhia Estadual de Águas e Esgotos (CEDAE, State Company of Drinking and Wastewater) is a state institution in charge of treating and distributing drinking water to other municipalities outside the basin. Wastewater receives almost no treatment within the basin is directly diverted into the water bodies. There is also a Committee for the whole Guanabara Bay with the objective of protecting, conserving and recuperating the water bodies promoting a sustainable use of the available natural resources. These institutions try to work closely to ensure a sustainable management of water resources.

CEDAE is, by far, the largest water user within the basin. As mentioned above, it is in charge of treating large amounts of water to distribute them as drinking water to several municipalities. Therefore, water quality is not only an environmental but also an economic and social concern. After the two rivers (Macacu and Guapiaçu) encounter water is diverted from the Imunana channel to a drinking water treatment plant from CEDAE.
Although practiced, irrigation is not a common activity within the basin. Most of the production is obtained from rainfed agriculture. Only in extreme dry years irrigation can be an alternative to save the crops. 

References and further reading:

Almeida, F. F. de M., Carneiro, C. dal R. (1998) Origem e Evoluçáo da Serra do Mar, Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 28(2), 135–150, http://sbgeo.org.br/pub_sbg/rbg/vol28_down/2802/2802135.pdf.

Barreiro, M., Chang, P., Saravanan, R. (2002) Variability of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone Simulated by an Atmospheric General Circulation Model, Journal of Climate, 15(7), 745–763, http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<0745:VOTSAC>2.0.CO;2, accessed: 20.12.2013.

Benavides, Z. et al. (2009) Consumo e Abasticemento de Água nas Bacias Hidrográficas dos Rios Guapi-Macacu e Caceribu - RJ.

Ecologus-Agrar (2003) Plano Diretor de Recursos Hídricos da Região Hidrográfica da Baía de Guanabara, p. 3087.

Fernandes, N. F. et al. (2010) Rio de Janeiro: A Metropolis Between Granite-Gneiss Massifs, P. Migón, ed. Geomorphological Landscapes of the Worl, Springer, p. 387, http://books.google.com/books?id=-TI55urJYyEC&pgis=1, accessed: 21.12.2013.

Ferrari, A. L. (2001) Evolução Tectônica do Graben da Guanabara, Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da USP, http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/44/44136/tde-29082013-152530/, accessed: 25.09.2013.

Fidalgo, E. C. et al. (2008) Uso e Cobertura da Terra na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Guapi-Macacu, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.

Finotti, R. et al. (2012) Variations in structure, floristic composition and successional characteristics of forest fragments of the Guapiaçu river basin (Guapimirim/Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ, Brazil). Acta Botanica Brasilica, 26(2), 464–475, http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-33062012000200022&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=pt, accessed: 23.12.2013.

IUSS Working Group WRB (2006) World reference base for soil resources 2006, Rome.

Lumbreras, J. F. (2008) Relacoes solo-Paisagem no noroeste do estado do Rio de Janeiro: Subsídios ao Planejamento de uso sustentável em áreas de relevo acidentado do bioma Mata Atlântica, Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro.

Naegeli, F. E. (2010) Evaluation of Forest Fragmentation and Land Use Change Patterns using Remote Sensing Techniques and Field Methods.

Penedo, S. et al. (2011) Implementation of a Hydro-climatic Monitoring Network in the Guapi-Macacu River Basin in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, XIVth IWRA World Water Congress, Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, p. 12, http://dinario.fh-koeln.de/pdf/Implementation of a Hydro-climatic Monitoring Network in the Guapi-Macacu River Basin in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.pdf.

Pinheiro, H. S. K. et al. (2012) Modelos de elevação para obtenção de atributos topográficos utilizados em mapeamento digital de solos, Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira (Online), 47, p.10, http://geostat-course.org/node/1033, accessed: 23.09.2013.

Riccomini, C., Sant’Anna, L. G., Ferrari, A. L. (2004) Evolução geológica do Rift Continental do sudeste do Brasil, V. Mantesso-Neto et al., eds. Geologia do Continente Sul-Americano: Evoluçao da obra de Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida, Beca, 383–405.

Scheffer, F. et al. (2009) Lehrbuch der Bodenkunde (Sav Geowissenschaften) (German Edition), Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, http://www.amazon.com/Lehrbuch-Bodenkunde-Geowissenschaften-German-Edition/dp/3827413249, accessed: 30.09.2013.

UFF/FEC (2010) Planejamento Estratégico da Região Hidrográfica dos Rios Guapi-Macacu e Caceribu-Macacu, Niterói, Brazil.

Wesenberg, J., Seele, C. (2009) Floristic-structural composition and diversity of tree and woody understorey vegetation in the montane Atlantic Forest of the Serra dos Órgaos National Park, Teresopolis, RJ, Brazil, H. Gaese et al., eds. Biodiversity and land use systems in the fragmented Mata Atlântica of Rio de Janeiro, Göttingen, p. 46, http://dinario.fh-koeln.de/pdf/Chapter 14_Wesenberg & Seele_259-280.pdf.