Water quality evaluation and dissolved organic matter characterization of a tropical hypereutrophic reservoir and its streams treated with Phoslock® and microbial bioremediation Enzilimp®

Worldwide, freshwater environments are impacted by inputs of nutrients and dissolved organic matter from human activities. Yet, the recovery of aquatic systems is usually focused only on nutrient management. In our work, we presented the case of an urban and hypereutrophic environment (Pampulha reservoir, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) that receives discharges from several streams and was treated with lanthanum modified bentonite (Phoslock (R)) and microbial bioremediation (Enzilimp (R)). Our goals were to evaluate whether the treatment could improve the water quality and characterize the spatiotemporal variation of dissolved organic matter sources and indices according to absorbance and fluorescence measurements from the reservoir and streams post-application months (2018). In our results, the reservoir showed a relative decrease in its phosphorus concentration compared to data from before the treatment. On the other hand, carbon concentrations reached expressive values in the post-application months following a similar pattern found in the streams. Our data showed that the reservoir's high resistance in its hypereutrophic condition was related to the elevated loading of external inputs coming from the streams. The parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) identified four main carbon sources, two of them being potential tracers of organic pollution in the Pampulha reservoir and watershed, together with absorbance and fluorescence indices. Our findings suggest that carbon parameters can be essential tools to provide adequate monitoring and optimization of water recovery attempts in complex, polluted environments.

Automated summary

This study focused on the impact of human activities on freshwater environments, specifically in a hypereutrophic urban setting in Brazil. By utilizing lanthanum modified bentonite and microbial bioremediation, improvements in water quality were observed post-application, with a decrease in phosphorus concentration and a notable increase in carbon concentration. The resistance of the reservoir to hypereutrophic conditions was attributed to the significant external inputs from streams, as identified through carbon parameters and fluorescence measurements.