Capacidade de uso da terra e abatimento de erosão hídrica em propriedades da bacia hidrográfica do arroio Epaminondas em Pelotas (RS).

Abstract

Depending on the soil use and management systems adopted, agricultural activities and water quality may be compromised. Land use planning according to its use capability becomes necessary to establish its use with a minimum of erosion losses. This work raises two hypotheses: a) the current use of land in agricultural properties in the Epaminondas stream watershed is not in accordance with its use capability; b) estimation of erosion abatement percentage may help in deciding on the most appropriate soil use and management. The main objective was to determine land use capability and erosion abatement percentage resulting from the adoption of appropriate land use and management, associated with environmental services for the Epaminondas stream watershed. The specific objectives of the study were: to classify the use capability and the current land use in each study plot; identify the occurrence of conflicts of use in each plot; estimate erosion abatement percentage; indicate the most appropriate use and management for each plot; check the possibility of adoption of a payment for environmental services scheme. To achieve the objectives, three rural properties of the basin were selected, subdivided into homogeneous plots. The limiting factors of each plot were surveyed, as well as physical and chemical analysis of the soil. The results obtained were used to classify land use capacity, identify existing land use conflicts and estimate erosion abatement percentage. It was observed that most of the studied area (87.69%) falls in the class IV of use capacity; 10.93% were classified as class V and only 1.38% as class III. The average estimated erosion abatement percentage ranged from 50.08 to 63.68% across properties, indicating that they could benefit from a Water Producer Program project. It was found that 4.29% of the study areas were in conflict of use characterized by overuse, which could compromise agricultural productivity and water quality of the basin. The effectiveness of using the erosion abatement percentage estimate as a support tool for retribution for environmental services was found.