Evaluación de la calidad del agua intersticial de la zona del humedal de los Cubillines, cantón Chambo, provincia de Chimborazo

Abstract

At present, the Andean wetlands are ecosystems threatened by the alteration to natural processes due to the use of water and surrounding soils due to the intervention of activities for human consumption, agriculture, grazing, etc. This study aimed to evaluate the interstitial water quality of the Cubillines wetland, located in the Chambo canton, Chimborazo province. For this purpose, four monitoring sessions were carried out in different months at seven points throughout the wetland, where information on the water and soil characteristics was obtained. For interstitial water samples, the piezometric method was used in the field; for the edaphic samples, the soil was collected at 30 cm and 60 cm depth with the cylinder method. In situ data were taken to determine the physical parameters of the water, and chemical parameters were analyzed in the institution's laboratory and soil samples. From the analysis of the results through the correlation of Pearson, Anova, RAS and bibliographic review, it was found that most of the points have an increase in the concentrations of ions, causing a chemical imbalance in the state of conservation of the ecosystem, showing a high percentage of the ionic balance that expresses the presence of other polluting elements in the Cubillines wetland area. Higher concentrations were evidenced in the intervened area due to the effect produced by anthropogenic activities, mainly due to the presence of herbivorous grazing animals. For this reason, the quantitative assessment of the state of conservation indicates that the intervened area has a low level of conservation and that the non- intervened area has a moderate level.