Chapter 2. Water Quality System of Puerto Berrío

Drinking water and wastewater management in Puerto Berrío

Section keywords: water supply, sewage system, coverage, wastewater treatment plants, DENARIO

Related documents: PBOT de Puerto Berrío, Plan de Desarrollo de Puerto Berrío 2008-2011, Plan Maestro de Saneamiento de Puerto Berrío.

Expected product: flow diagrams for three different scenarios

Drinking water supply system

The water supply service in Puerto Berrío varies from the urban to the rural area in coverage as well as in quality, being the urban area the most favoured thanks to the concentration of the population. Currently, the company Aguas del Puerto S.A. provides the urban area with drinking water, taking it from the Magdalena River and giving it a conventional treatment to reach the desired and required quality for human consumption. In the urban area 96,3% (Info Basica P.B.) of the population is covered with the service, with a supply of 140 l/s. However the coverage seems high, the distribution system presents a lot of deficiencies such as cracks, illegal connections, leaking, insufficient pressure, inadequate pipe diameters and inadequate storage capacity of the tank, causing losses of around 50%. On the other side the water quality is very good and monitored continuously in the outlet of the treatment plant. The individual houses and spread settlements in the rural area make it difficult to provide a centralized water supply service and usually every settlement or group of settlements has different drinking water sources with inadequate distribution networks or none at all. In the rural area, only 64,8% (Info Basica P.B.) of the population is connected to a water supply system, and the drinking water doesn’t receive any kind of treatment before its consumption in almost all cases. Fortunately, the region is very reach in water resources and therefore there is good availability, but the quality is not always adequate for consumption due to unprotected (deforestation) or affected watersheds by anthropogenic activities. In analysis performed to analyse the drinking water quality in the rural area, coliform bacteria have been found, which results in health problems of the population such as skin infections, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis, especially in children under 5 years.

Sewer system

The coverage in the sewer system presents a similar behaviour to the drinking water system. The urban area is prioritised with a coverage of 57,6% (Plan de Desarrollo), while in the rural area only very few settlements some kind of sewer system. The sewer system of Puerto Berrío was built 50 years ago, initially for the collection of rainwater but later, the wastewater was connected too making it a combined sewer system, with many hydraulic deficiencies due to under dimensioning. All discharges of the system flow into the Magdalena River or one of its tributaries without any treatment, except for a 10% of the wastewaters that are treated in a small plant called El Pensil. The current sewer system network is divided in four sectors: La Malena, Barrio Milla No. 2, Puerto Colombia and Centro. As for the rural area, the wastewater doesn’t receive any treatment and is disposed into the nearest water body, usually a tributary of the Magdalena River or the river itself depending on the location of the settlement. Discharge of total wastewater of the municipality?

Wastewater treatment plants

In Puerto Berrío there are three wastewater treatment plants. At the time of the field visit to the study area, one of them was operating correctly, one had just been finished and was still being prepared for the commencement of operations, and the last one was built but not completely and has never been operated. The wastewater treatment plant being operated since February 2007 is called “El Pensil” and treats 12 L/s with an removal efficiency of around 84% for BOD and 75% for COD and total solids. The new wastewater treatment plant called “Lagunas” was finished in April 2008. Besides a primary treatment, the system provides a biological treatment through three oxidation ponds, one anaerobic and two facultative with an expected efficiencies of 80% BOD and total solids removal. This plant was built to treat around 80% of the municipal wastewater connected to sewer system, discharged currently untreated into the Magdalena River using a pumping station.

Identification of point sources

Section keywords: Treated wastewater, untreated waste water, location, distances, amount.

Related documents: Plan de Vertimientos de Puerto Berrío, PBOT Puerto Berrío.

Expected product: Sketch of the municipality and the river with the identified point sources. Map or aereal photograph with the river stretch delimitation and the identification of the wastewater discharge point sources.

According to the definition given by the U.S.A. Environmental Protection Agency, E.P.A., a point source is a stationary location or fixed facility from which pollutants are discharged or any single identifiable source of pollution; e.g. a pipe, ditch, ship, ore pit, factory smokestack. Tomado de EPA Terms of Environment.

As mentioned in the previous section, the wastewater network of Puerto Berrío can be divided in four sectors. The Land Use Plan (2000), identifies the wastewater discharges into the Magdalena River or one of its tributaries as follows:

a. The main discharge comes from the sector Centro, where around 80% of the urban population is found. This wastewater doesn’t receive any treatment and flows first into a pumping station from which it is pumped to guarantee the adequate evacuation into the Magdalena River. b. From the sector Barrio La Milla No. 2, there are 4 direct discharges into the river. c. In Puerto Colombia there are three wastewater collectors, all of them flowing directly into the Magdalena River. Besides, due to the location of the neighborhood, there are some houses on riverside, which discharge the wastewater individually and directly into the river.

(Section to be completed)

Description of the receiving water body

Section keywords: river stretch, flow discharge, water quality, seasonal variations, POEM

Clasification of the river stretch according to existing water quality data

Section keywords: physical and chemical water quality parameters, monitoring, measurements, updated data.

Expected product: Map with the classified river stretch

Related documents: Leitfaden zur typspezifischen Bewertung der allgemeinen chemisch/physikalischen Parameter in Fließgewässern [Lebensministerium Österreich, 2005], Gewässergütekarte Baden-Württemberg [Landesanstalt für Umweltschutz Baden-Württemberg, 1998]; Gütebericht 2002: Entwicklung der Fließgewässerbeschaffenheit in Baden-Württemberg - chemisch-biologisch-morphologisch - [Landesanstalt für Umweltschutz Baden-Württemberg, 2002]; Gütezustand der Fließgewässer Neckar-Einzugsgebiet [Gewässerdirektion Neckar, Besigheim,2005], Nueva medición de la calidad de agua en los rios Magdalena, y Cauca [IDEAM, Cormagdalena y ONF Andina, 2007], Datos de programa de monitoreo de ISAGEN.

Interrelation community-river

Section keywords: water withdrawal, drinking water treatment plant, raw water supply (informal), sand and other material extraction, recreation, fishing, navigation, public health.

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