Predilection of streams for water quality monito- ring: an ecosystem provision service in the itaja?-mirim river basin (brazil)

The Itajai-Mirim river basin, SC (Brazil) is a reference in the collection of water for public supply compared to the other basins that make up its territory. However, it pre-sents a greater contribution of sanitary sewage throughout its course. In this context, the objective of the present article is to select streams allocated to different land uses and to understand the influence of land use on water quality, as a provision ecosystem service and preponderant to the health of the population. The methodological steps developed for the choice of streams were geoprocessing and field activity, while for the monitoring of water quality, the analysis of physical-chemical parameters was carried out. The results obtained showed that the use of land influences the quality of water in streams, being negative in rural and urban areas, as a chemical and physical contaminant attribute regarding the discharge of untreated effluents into the watercourse; and positive to the potability of water in forested area. It is important to encourage action by the public power for the development of policies and guidelines aimed at territorial planning, whose essential resource for the provision of human activities is in potential degradation.