Water quality of Puyo River and tributaries, Pastaza, Ecuador

Abstract

This research was developed in the sub-basin of the Puyo River, Province of Pastaza, Ecuador, in the years 2015 and 2018 had as objective: To characterize the environmental quality of water, in different sectors of the sub-basin of the Puyo River, including the main tributaries. The zones were classified as high, urban and low. A monitoring was carried out in the main channel and its tributaries in 28 points, registering values ​​of conductivity, pH, temperature and oxygen saturation, chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, total and fecal coliforms, and 413 surveys were applied to identify the Main types of activities that take place in the areas surrounding the main course and tributaries. The results showed differences in the concentrations of the different parameters in the dates and monitoring points, reporting higher concentrations of BOD5, total and fecal coliforms, the areas of the urban area. The correlation analysis showed significant relationships between the variables studied except for oxygen saturation. The analysis of variance showed significant differences between the zones for electrical conductivity, concentration of fecal and total coliforms. Surveys reveal that the majority of wastewater is deposited directly into the sewer system and the main channel of the river. It is concluded that the behavior of the different registered variables differs between the main body and tributaries, increasing the concentrations of total Coliforms, fecal from the urban area in the main body and differing the behavior of the rest of the parameters in the three zones.