Identificación de zonas potenciales de recarga hídrica en el municipio de Pamplona, Norte de Santander

Abstract

The loss of ecosystems and strategic conservation areas in the municipality of Pamplona in Norte de Santander, caused by the absence of territorial entities and the low control and surveillance they exert over the status of water resources, generated the possibility of identifying potential zones for water recharge in the municipality and establishing the land use conflicts that affect the water infiltration process. In light of the foregoing, the methodology proposed by Matus et al. (2009) was implemented. This methodology allowed for the evaluation of biophysical elements for each segment of the Pamplonita, Zulia, and Chitagá river basins that make up the municipality, such as slopes and associated micro-reliefs, soil type, rock type, vegetation cover, and land use, through spatial analysis in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. In this analysis, categories and weights were assigned to each element according to its permeability and influence on the processes that favor a suitable environment for water infiltration to occur, on a scale of one to five, where the possibility of recharge ranges from very low to very high. Consequently, thematic maps for each of the elements were obtained at a scale of 1:100,000, for each segment of the basins. Subsequently, the raster calculator tool was implemented, which allowed for the application of the equation proposed by Matus et al. (2009) to calculate the water recharge potential in the evaluated and identified zones. This generated a raster output that was reclassified into five ranges defining the possibility of water recharge in the identified areas very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. This allowed the water recharge potential in 66.18% of the total area of the municipality to be categorized as moderate, according to the physical characteristics and main uses of the elements. The characterization of land cover use conflicts in the potential water recharge areas showed overutilization conflicts in 50.1% of the total area of the municipality.