SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL TRENDS IN WATER QUALITY OF TWO PRINCIPAL RIVERS FROM IBERA SYSTEM

MORESI, ADRIANA LUCÍA; FECHNER, DIANA C.; RUÍZ DÍAZ, JUAN DANIEL; ROMERO, CÉSAR HAMILTON; PELLERANO, ROBERTO G.; VÁZQUEZ, FRANCISCO ANTONIO

Mendoza

Congreso; XXXI Reunión científica anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2013

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

The Ibera wetlands are a vast network of creeks, lagoons and swamps with a total area of 17,000 km² approximately, located in the central portion of the province of Corrientes. The wetlands are of pluvial origin with a depth varying between 1 and 3 meters. Today, the Ibera system represents an strategic freshwater reservoir. In general, the physico-chemical properties of water tend to show a combination of geomorphological attributes modified by a wide range of direct and indirect climatic and human influences. Information on water quality parameters and their relationship is of critical importance to the implementation of sustainable water management strategies. This study presents the application of selected chemometric techniques to the physico-chemical dataset, namely, Principal component and Correlation analyses. Data of five indicators, suspended solids, ammonium-N, phosphate-P, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen, in samples collected between 2012 and 2013, were analyzed. Principal component analysis identified two components, which are responsible for the data structure explaining 78.4% of the total variance from the data. Significant data reduction was achieved. This enables better evaluation on the water quality on the monitored area.