Determination of changes in the physicochemical quality of water due to the effects of mechanized mining, with special attention to the periods of operation and mining rest in the municipality of Cértegui, Chocó

Abstract

In an attempt to establish the changes that openpit mining in the municipality of Cértegui, Chocó, Colombia, generates on the physicochemical characteristics of water ecosystems intervened by this productive activity, five water sources were chosen; the streams San Antonio, La Platina, Calochiquito, San Antonito and Regadero. In each water source, measurements were made of physicochemical variables in situ (2 stations: before and after the mining dumping), taking records during the mining operation and after the rest phase of 24 to 48 hours. The results allowed inferring that the development of open pit mining activities generates greater changes in the variables dissolved solids (2.19 and 23.6 mg/l) and suspended (0 and 750 mg/l), conductivity (4.9 and 55.1 µs/cm) and turbidity (0 and 1000 FAU), since with the clearing of the soil and the direct discharge of the effluents of the process to the water sources, a carry-over of particles and solid material is generated, which modify these variables and the physicochemical quality of the water as evidenced in the stations located after the discharge during the operational samplings. In conclusion, the short rest periods implemented during the mining operational stage favor the reestablishment of some physicochemical variables such as solids, speed and some nutrients such as phosphates, however, once the mining disturbance is generated, great effects are produced in the stations after the dumping, which even with the cessation of activity, do not show a total restoration of the ecosystem.