Abstract

TORRES BERISTAIN, Beatriz; GONZALEZ LOPEZ, Gloria; RUSTRIAN PORTILLA, Elena  and  HOUBRON, Eric. Basing aproach for the identification of pullution sources and for the evaluation of the quality of a river, Veracruz, Mexico. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2013, vol.29, n.3, pp.135-146. ISSN 0188-4999.

The Seco river is located at the center of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. This river originates from the melting waters of the Pico de Orizaba and on its way to the Gulf of Mexico it is polluted by point and nonpoint sources. The aim of this study was to analyze the water quality of the Seco river and to use a watershed approach using a geographic information system to locate point and non point sources of pollution related to human settlements. In this research our area of study was the Seco river sub-basin that has an extension of 43 816 ha., is constituted by four micro-basins, 12 municipalities and inhabited in 2010 by 204 255 persons. Water quality determination was carried out monthly during the six months of the rainy season. A geographic information system (GIS) was built to integrate the riverbed, the municipal and hydrographic limits, the sampling points and the urban and rural settlements. The Seco river is used for irrigation, industrial activities and as a drinking water source, even though this research determined the water quality at a microbiological level is bad. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) analysis determined the water is polluted or heavily polluted, while nitrogen concentrations indicate this is an eutrophic river.

Keywords : water quality; surface water; geographic information system (GIS); watershed; wastewater.