Evaluación de la calidad del agua en la quebrada El Salado mediante la aplicación del índice de calidad de agua (NSF) en la parroquia El Valle, cantón Cuenca

Abstract

El Salado creek is located in the parish El Valle, within this are the communities of Victoria Alta, Victoria Baja, La Pradera, El Valle Centro, EL Despacho, Santa Catalina, and Monay El Cruce. As a first topic of this work, a baseline of the gorge was raised where the social and environmental aspects are detailed, in addition, it includes the physical, chemical and microbiological analyzes of the water in the El Salado ravine, taking into account nine parameters: turbidity , dissolved oxygen, BOD5, pH, nitrates, phosphates, fecal coliforms, total solids and temperature in order to compare with the regulations, after that the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (ICA - NSF) of States was calculated United; for which, four monitoring campaigns were carried out between the months of February, March, April and May 2019; in four sampling points located in the Victoria Alta, El Valle, El Despacho and Monay el Cruce neighborhoods. Subsequently, the environmental impacts of the ravine were identified, and an impact identification and assessment matrix was generated using the methodology proposed by Conesa. The results obtained from the analysis of the Water Quality Index in the creek demonstrate that the water quality is within the range of Mala to Medium, in addition to identifying the most significant environmental impacts in the study area. Finally, projects focused on the mitigation and prevention of environmental problems identified in the environmental assessment matrix in the El Salado creek are proposed.