Loss of water quality of an urban river in cusco: saphy case

Water quality is the set of chemical, physical and biological characteristics that make the river suitable for different uses such as: maintenance of ecosystems to human consumption. The objective was to determine the loss of quality of the Saphyriver that crosses the city of Cusco through the historic center; Physicochemical and biological parameters were used through standardized methods for the analysis of drinking and waste water, the sources of deterioration were identified. For the laboratory analysis, the methodology of the National Water Authority was followed. The results were compared with the Environmental Quality Standards for water-ECA, approved by the Ministry of the Environment; dissolved oxygen was found to be suboptimal and biological oxygen demand exceeds ECA by 8.6 times; the same occurs with turbidity and thermotolerant coliforms that show high concentrations with respect to ECA-water; the river becomes alkaline and the main sources of deterioration are agricultural and livestock activities, household wastewater, solid waste and dumped debris.