Water Quality Assessment in Urban Watersheds of Tierra del Fuego: A Perspective from the Integrated Water Resources Management

DIODATO, S.; NOHRA, Y.; NOIR, G.; ESCOBAR, J.; MANSILLA R.; MORETTO, A.

Environmental Assessment of Patagonia's Water Resources

Springer

Año: 2022;

Water quality deterioration is one of the most challenging environmental problems in the world. Land use change like urbanization has several impacts on the presence, utilization and management of water resources. The Province of Tierra del Fuego, Southernmost Patagonia, Argentina, is not exempt from the challenges that happen at a global scale. Several problems derived from the high pressure that natural resources are subjected are evident. Therefore, the generation of information is of great relevance within the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) framework with an Ecosystem Approach (EA). Water Quality of five relevant watersheds of Tierra del Fuego from the Río Grande and Ushuaia cities was systematically monitored during the period 2008-2019, assessing physicochemical and microbiological parameters. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index was applied to simplify and facilitate the transmission of the generated information to diverse actors. Although downstream sampling sites presented fair to poor water quality, headwaters from water intakes remains of good quality. It is necessary to implement IWRM with an EA as a way of preserving environmental and population health.