Nitrogen forms and total phosphorus in water courses: a study at Maringá stream, Paraná State

ABSTRACT. This paper aimed to monitor the nitrogen compounds and total phosphorous in the Maringá Stream watershed in order to investigate the spatial and temporal variations in the water quality. For this, samplings were collected from seven sites during the period from October 2008 to September 2009. The results indicated the most critical stretches of water pollution with the inflow of the discharges from a sewage treatment plant of the city. Also it is important to highlight the influence of diffuse pollution coming from agricultural runoff and wastewater from fishing lakes, on the water quality