Author(s)

Daniel Pineda-Mora¹, Jeiry Toribio-Jiménez², Teresa Leal-Ascencio Ma³, Ana Laura Juárez-López¹, Justiniano González-González¹, Jesús Carlos Ruvalcaba-Ledezma⁴, Ramón Alberto Batista-García⁵, Paul Alexander Arp⁶

¹Local Development Science Center, Autonomous University of Guerrero, Acapulco, Mexico.
²Faculty of Chemistry and Biological Science, Autonomous University of Guerrero, Chilpancingo, Mexico.
³Faculty of Chemistry Science, University of Veracruz, Xalapa, Mexico.
⁴Health Science Institute, Autonomous University of Hidalgo, Pachuca, Mexico.
⁵Cell Dynamics Research Center, Autonomous University of Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
⁶Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.

The basin of Rio de la Sabana is the largest tributary of the Tres Palos coastal lagoon in Southwest Mexico, east of Acapulco. This lagoon and its upstream basin areas have become a high priority area for the preservation of coastal and marine environments. To obtain information about water quality as affected by urban expansion since 2002, fourteen physicochemical parameters (temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, sulphate, phosphate), biochemical (biological and chemical oxygen demand, methylene blue active substances) and bacteriological parameters (total and fecal coliforms) were determined. This sampling was done for dry and rainy season conditions at seven locations (S1, S2, S3, …, S7) along the river, spaced 3 to 6 km apart to a total of 30.4 km. The results were grouped into four zones: (Z1) reference, (Z2) transition, (Z3) polluted, (Z4) recovery. The Alborada (S5) and Tunzingo (S6) sites, adjacent to dense high-class residential areas (Z3), had the greatest pollution charges in both seasons, while the La Poza (S7) site near the Tres Palos lagoon (Z4) showed a decrease in pollution. All parameters correlated with increasing head- to down-river sampling distance by following linear (pH, DO) or curvilinear patterns (all other parameters). Using sampling location and dry versus rainy sampling season as multivariate regression (predictor) variables led to least-squares capturing: 1) 66% to 95% of the T(°C), pH, DO, and PO^3-₄ variations, and 2) 57% to 96% of the log-linear variations of the other parameters. Among the parameters, T(°C), DO, and PO^3-₄ were not significantly affected by sampling season, while pH became so after deleting two higher than usual pH values at the S5 and S6 locations during the dry season.

Rio de la Sabana, Urban Developments, Water Pollution, Sampling Locations, Dry/Rainy Season, Multivariate Analyses

Pineda-Mora, D. , Toribio-Jiménez, J. , Ma, T. , Juárez-López, A. , González-González, J. , Ruvalcaba-Ledezma, J. , Batista-García, R. and Arp, P. (2018) Emerging Water Quality Issues along Rio de la Sabana, Mexico. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 10, 621-636. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2018.107035.