Potenciais efeitos das mudanças climáticas e ações antrópicas sobre a dinâmica do aquífero Alter do Chão na Amazônia Central, região de Manaus e adjacências.

Abstract

The increasing use of groundwater resources for human, industrial, and irrigation consumption has resulted in decreased availability in much of the world. As a consequence, the depletion of underground water resources becomes a threat to both human society and ecosystems. It is considered a global problem since they are renewable resources in time scales from decades to centuries. This work applied the numerical modeling of groundwater flow to observe the recharge behavior associated with human pressures such as urban expansion and increased demand to use the resource to investigate the potential effects of climate change on the Alter do Chão aquifer. About recharge, upward trends of 9%, 15%, and 22% applied until 2040, based on regional models for the Amazon; and observational data corroborate that. There were six scenarios: the most pessimistic results are a 9% increase in recharge. Until the end of the 2040s the export use spot of the Alter do Chão Aquifer, expands up to the limits of urban expansion projects, and that for scenarios, accentuates the already existing regions. For all scenarios, the east, center, north, and northwest areas showed the continuity of the lowering spots, even under conditions of high recharge. The projected increments of rain will raise the water level and may allow the expansion of riparian zones as a consequence of the increase in the hydraulic loads.