Modelación dinámica de la contaminación del agua de la cuenca del lago de Tota.

Abstract

The Tota Lake, the largest in Colombia, with a surface of 55 km2 and a hydrographic watershed of 20.100 ha, is an important natural resource located in the department of Boyacá. A large population (25.000 people approximately) live in the watershed whose economy is based in agricultural, touristic, industrial and commercial activities. Due to these activities, there is a constant pollution in the water bodies caused by pesticides, fertilizers, industrial chemical products and domestic wastewater. Therefore, an evaluation of the environmental risk is required in order to establish the pollution status of the water in the basin, and afterwards, to make the necessary decisions to decrease the risks and to exploit the natural resources in a more sustainable way. This investigation proposes a dynamic model based in the methodology “Material Flow Analysis” and "Systems Dynamics" to study the behavior of the pollution loads of the water. In first place, this model determines the current pollution loads of the water through the basin and then estimates pollution values in the long term. The results focus in the diagnostic of the pollution levels, their distribution in the watershed and also in the evaluation of the pollution fluctuation in the long term.