Calidad de fuentes de agua para consumo humano en la comunidad El Frutillo, Bambamarca-Cajamarca

Abstract

Untreated water sources can pose health risks to people and other living beings; due to the congregation of living mass, infectious microbes, suspended solids, heavy metals, etc.; it is essential to investigate their quality ensuring their harmlessness, avoiding agents, and safeguarding the health and comfort of the community. The objective was to determine the quality of water sources for human consumption by analyzing the correlations between parameters in the community of El Frutillo, Bambamarca-Cajamarca. Seven monitoring sessions were conducted at three sites from November 2022 to May 2023; for the analysis of physical, chemical, and coliform indicators, test methods were used following the instructions of the General Directorate of Environmental Health. Comparing the maximum permissible limits of D.S. No. 031-2010-SA-DIGESA with the results, the following were achieved: temperatures between 15.4°C to 17.2°C; turbidity from 0.11 to 1.40 NTU; 163.5 to 305.0 mg/L of total dissolved solids; color < MCL; pH from 7.29 to 8.08; 0.39 to 7.73 mg/L of chlorides; 0.084 to 0.221 mg/L of fluorides; phosphates < MCL; 1.77 to 8.36 mg/L of nitrates; nitrites < MCL; 1.92 to 28.10 mg/L of sulfates; 1.8 to 920.0 MPN/100mL total coliforms and 1.8 to 11.0 MPN/100mL thermotolerant coliforms. The correlation coefficients for pH, temperature, and turbidity versus coliforms were 0.907, -0.291, and 0.975 respectively. Concluding that the physicochemical quality is good; however, the bacteriological quality is poor, not being suitable for human supply; as evidenced by the correlations, since higher contents of pH, turbidity, and temperature lead to higher concentrations of coliforms.