evaluación de la calidad de las aguas superficiales del río jubones en el cantón El Guabo, Provincia de El Oro, 2022

Abstract

The present work evaluates the water quality of the surface waters of the Jubones River, in the section that flows through the El Guabo canton, by applying the water quality index under the methodology proposed by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF). For this purpose, 4 sampling points were delimited; applying the mathematical expression based on the results obtained from the analysis of the physicochemical parameters established in the NSF methodology (temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, total dissolved solids, turbidity, nitrates, phosphates, biochemical oxygen demand, fecal coliforms). According to the results obtained from the calculation of the quality index, they showed that all the sampling points have an MEDIUM quality according to the ICA-NSF classification scale; likewise, the results of the physicochemical parameters were compared with Table 1: quality criteria of water sources for human and domestic consumption; Table 2: admissible quality criteria for the preservation of aquatic and wild life in fresh, marine and estuarine waters; Table 3: water quality criteria for agricultural irrigation, of the A.M. 097- A, Annex 1: Environmental Quality Standard and Discharge of Effluents to the Water Resource, showing that fecal coliforms and biochemical oxygen demand exceed the maximum permissible limits (MPL), having a significant impact on the quality criteria of Table 1 and 3. Regarding the evaluation of water quality in the Jubones River, it is shown that its quality has a tendency to decrease during the coming years and this is due to the pollutant load that comes from the different agricultural activities and the discharge of domestic wastewater.