Occurrence of chemical substances in water supply systems of Brazil: a nonparametric approach for statistical analysis of Sisagua data

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5902/2179460X63368

Keywords:

Censored data, drinking water, environmental data, Kaplan-Meier estimators, nondetects

Abstract

The objective of this work was to develop a methodology for statistical analysis of monitoring data of chemical compounds in drinking water supply systems in Brazil, using data from Sisagua (Drinking Water Quality Surveillance Information System). Initially, the inconsistencies in the database were identified and adjusted. Then, the descriptive statistics were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier (KM) method, evaluating its applicability in different censored data sets. The descriptive parameters were compared with the substitution method. The substitution method showed susceptibility to biased estimates, especially for groups of compounds containing high percentage of censored data and with high limits of quantification and detection, leading to higher descriptive parameters compared to KM method. This work reinforces the need to use appropriate methods for analyzing environmental data and evidences that the analysis of this type of data may be complex. The methods proposed here can help environmental scientists to deal with this issue, providing a systematic procedure to check and solve consistency problems, as well as presenting a nonparametric approach for computing descriptive statistics for environmental monitoring data.

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Author Biographies

Fernanda Bento Rosa Gomes, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)

Engenheira Ambiental e Sanitarista e mestranda em Engenharia Civil pela Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Taciane de Oliveira Gomes de Assunção, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)

Graduanda de Engenharia Ambiental e Sanitária na Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Guilherme Bento Nicolau, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)

Engenheiro Ambiental e Sanitarista pela Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Pedro Fialho Cordeiro, Centro de Inovação e Tecnologia SENAI FIEMG

Pesquisador do Centro de Inovação e Tecnologia SENAI FIEMG e responsável pelo Laboratório de Hidrossedimentometria do Instituto SENAI de Tecnologia em Meio Ambiente.

Samuel Rodrigues Castro, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)

Professor adjunto do Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF) e professor permanente do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ambiente Construído (PROAC) e Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Civil (PEC), ambos da UFJF.

Renata de Oliveira Pereira, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)

Professora efetiva do Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF) e atua no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ambiente Construído (PROAC) e Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Civil (PEC) - UFJF.

Emanuel Manfred Freire Brandt, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF)

Professor adjunto do Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental (ESA) da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF). Docente permanente do Programa de Pós­-Graduação em Engenharia Civil (PEC) da UFJF, área de concentração em Saneamento e Meio Ambiente.

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2022-06-13

How to Cite

Gomes, F. B. R., Assunção, T. de O. G. de, Nicolau, G. B., Cordeiro, P. F., Castro, S. R., Pereira, R. de O., & Brandt, E. M. F. (2022). Occurrence of chemical substances in water supply systems of Brazil: a nonparametric approach for statistical analysis of Sisagua data. Ciência E Natura, 44, e24. https://doi.org/10.5902/2179460X63368

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Vol. 44 (2022): Continuous Publication

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Statistics

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