Environmental impact assessment: urbanization of the Bodocongó Reservoir, Campina Grande/PB

Abstract

Urban development has caused an increase in human activities on natural resources, generating significant negative impacts on the environment. In this perspective, this study had the objective of evaluating the environmental impacts resulting from the urbanization of the Bodocongó’s water reservoir, in Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brasil, which alter the local landscape. For the analysis of the impacts, it was adopted as a research tool: on-site visits, through which applied unstructured interviews were made with the population that hangs around the enterprise, direct observation, and photographic records. The impacts were identified and described through the checklist and evaluated by matrix. It was verified that the urbanization resulted in six positive and nine negative impacts. Among the positive impacts highlighted the changing landscape and the construction of the Ecological Park of Bodocongó, whose main effect included the economic and social reorganization of the area, contributing to the development of new urban fabrics and local valorization. Among the negative impacts identified, however, they express greater magnitude and threaten the stability of that aquatic system which constitutes a historical patrimony, considered by scientists as the cradle of Limnology. It was observed the deconstruction of the typical scenic figure of the region was observed and the intensification of the negative impacts that have caused the degradation of that aquatic system over the years. In case, if degradation persists, the Bodocongó’s water reservoir it will become just a page of history.