ABSTRACT
Soil and water are some of the most precious natural resources to be found in nature, essential for agriculture, industry, wildlife and human lives. As regards the Upper Paraguay River Basin (UPRB), the intensification of urbanisation and agricultural production has led to higher discharges of toxic substances, the release of atmospheric polluting materials, the diffuse discharges of agrochemicals and the contamination of water bodies. This chapter discusses the various aspects of soil-water interactions, especially related to the Pantanal floodplain, and includes the specific case study of the Taquari river basin, which is certainly the most degraded area of the URPB. The Pantanal Sedimentary Basin is inserted in the centre of the UPRB, occupying, in the Brazilian Territory, 38.2 per cent of its area, distributed in the States of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.
