Water quality for recreational use of the Ctalamochita River (Córdoba, Argentina)

MARIN GRACIELA; MOYANO SILVIA; BIOLÉ, FERNANDA G.; PAULA DE BERNARDI

Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua

Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua

Año: 2022

2007-2422

The “Río Tercero” or “Ctalamochita” river along Villa María city, Córdoba, Argentina, is used for recreational purposes, among others. The aim of this work was to evaluate the quality of water for that use in the section that runs through the city, through the microbiological and physicochemical analysis and water quality index (WQI) of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. Seasonal sampling was performed in three points of the city (ingress, center and end) between October 2017 and September 2018. Total coliforms, thermotolerant coliforms and Escherichia coli were determined. In addition, temperature (°C), pH, turbidity (UNT), total dissolved solids, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen, nitrates and nitrites were recorded. The results showed that in 60% of the samples the total coliforms exceeded the allowed limit, however, in the total of samples the thermotolerant coliforms were acceptable by the normative and in the determination of E. coli, only one value exceeded the limit set up by Health Canada. The WQI was "GOOD" for two of the sites studied, while downstream, while in Barrancas del Río, it was "MARGINAL" (WQI =62.2). Therefore, it is concluded that in the studied areas, the recreational use of water from the Ctalamochita river would not imply a risk to the human health. However, the factors that produce the WQI decrease, after crossing the city, should be identified if improvements are to be achieved in that area.