Water quality in urban rivers: Fucha River case, Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Bogota is the capital city of Colombia, which has four bodies of water that cross it from east to west, the Fucha River being a neighbor of UNAD, for which reason the COBIDES research group, from UNAD, planned a set of methodological activities to know the water quality of section three of the Fucha River based on the General Quality Index for Surface Waters ICACOSU, concerning the fulfillment of Resolution 5731 of 2008, which specifies the water quality objectives for the city. To fulfill the objective of the research detailed bibliographic review of the study area was carried out, six (6) water measurement points were determined considered: representativeness, accessibility, and safety of the location. Once the results were obtained by the laboratory, the necessary calculations and analyzes were carried out to establish the ICACOSU of 5 and 7 variables and the results of the sampling were compared with the quality objectives established by Resolution 5731 of 2008; thus, it follows that the water quality of the Fucha River for the ICACOSU of seven variables is very bad. Due to the concentration of fecal coliforms, so it is not suitable to establish the biological balance of self-purification on its way to the Bogotá River mouth, about quality objectives, they are only met in two monitoring points with a compliance value of less than 85 %.