Análisis hidrológico y diseño de la red hidrometeorológica en Cuenca de páramo: caso de estudio de Molleturo y Chaucha

Abstract

The Andean Paramo is a valuable ecosystem because it has important water sources used mainly to human consumption. But, it is very vulnerable; therefore, any external factor can disturb its balance. Despite of these characteristics, the lack of hydrometeorological information, especially in small basins, is a limitation to make decisions. The objective of this investigation was to conduct a study about the most important hydrometeorological characteristics of El Chorro river basin and to design a basic monitoring network, which will serve to future researches. For that purpose, historical data of rainfall, temperature and water levels of 18 gaging stations near the study zone were used. After making a data quality control, a hydrometeorological analysis through contours maps was made; in addition, simple methods were used to get typical flows: medium, base, ecological, minimum and maximum. Furthermore, technical criteria were taken into account to locate the gaging stations and to select the hydraulic structures. The results were an uniform rainfall of 1070 mm and variable temperature of 4 to 15 °C, due to high altitudinal range. This basin has a considerable and little variable water resource with a medium flow of 0.370 m3/s. The proposed monitoring network consist of 8 gaging stations: 2 pluviographic stations, 2 climatological stations and 4 Parshall flumes. Finally, the information of this network opens the way to future studies that will allow to give an integrated management of microbasins and water sources in the Paramo.