Environmental risk assessment of parabens in surface water from a Brazilian river: the case of Mogi Guaçu Basin, São Paulo State, under precipitation anomalies.

Parabens are preservatives widely used by industry since these compounds have antifungal properties, relative low cost, and stability over a wide pH range. This study aims to quantify and assess the environmental risks of methylparaben (MP), ethylparaben (EP), propylparaben (PP), and butylparaben (BP) in surface water from a Brazilian River, Mogi Guaçu. The State of São Paulo, including the Mogi Guaçu River region, suffered from a period of intense drought and high temperatures, which caused anomalies in river flows and water supply problems.

Persistent impacts of an abandoned non-sanitary landfill in its surroundings.

The inadequate disposal of solid waste, a common practice in developing countries, can represent an important pollution source since the closure of these deposits typically does not include the adoption of monitoring, isolation, or remediation techniques. Even so, several disposal areas are abandoned, without performing long-term monitoring in order to evaluate the depletion of contaminants' concentrations. This research aimed at comparing current and historical physicochemical data of water resources surrounding a non-sanitary landfill situated in a Guarani Aquifer recharge zone.

Long-term geophysical monitoring of an abandoned dumpsite area in a Guarani Aquifer recharge zone.

Even though attenuation processes in the subsurface are known to reduce the impacts of contaminant plumes, their importance is significantly dependent on geological and climatic characteristics, as well as on the leachate quality. The knowledge of attenuation processes linked to different geological formations is therefore fundamental in predicting the impacts of waste disposal areas. Geophysical methods are useful tools for assessing and delineating contaminant plumes, as well as their changes with time, which enables their lower-cost monitoring and association with geological and environmental properties.