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Mundaú Lagoon is an estuarine
lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
situated west of Maceió, capital city of
Alagoas Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...
state, in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. Its total area is . The lake receives the Mundaú River, and is connected to the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
and Manguaba Lagoon by a network of canals which cross the
plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...
forming a lot of little
islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water, and by other classifications. For rank-order lists, see the #Other lists of islands, other lists of islands below. Lists of islands by count ...
. The lagoon contains to large
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
and numerous types of fish, crabs, shrimps and shellfish. Mundaú Lagoon is the northernmost of several coastal lakes with the same features, including Manguaba, Roteiro and Jequiá lagoons. Besides Maceió, two other municipalities are located on its edge, the little towns of Santa Luzia do Norte and Coqueiro Seco.


Pollution problems

The natural environment of Mundaú Lagoon is affected by pollution problems, mainly due to urban sewage dispensing along its shore close to downtown Maceió. This compromises the communities who makes a living from the fishing on the lagoon. This is not the only pollution problem surrounding Maceió. The Riacho Salgadinho is also the destination for most of the sewage system in Maceió downtown. In the past years, several politicians have made promises of putting sewage treatment stations to alleviate the problems caused by the pollution during the rainy season, but limited progress has been made. Recently a new threat has arisen to the ecosystem of the Mundaú lagoon, the
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
of
rock salt Halite ( ), commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride ( Na Cl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pi ...
by Braskem company.


See also

* Sinking of Maceió


References

Landforms of Alagoas Estuaries of Brazil Lagoons of Brazil {{Alagoas-geo-stub