Recommendations
Based on the arguments exposed in the present study it is recommended that the municipality avoids discharging the wastewater into the Magdalena river under the current conditions, on one hand to meet the legal requirements and on the other to care for the maintenance of the best possible water quality of the receiving water body.
The first action to be taken should be operating the new wastewater treatment plant “Lagunas” as soon as possible. Next, the upgrading of the sewer system should be carried out to improve coverage and allow for the treatment of the remaining wastewater. In the case that the wastewater continues to be discharged untreated into the receiving water body for a longer time, at least an extension of the pipes as suggested in the present work should be considered. This would avoid the current health and aesthetic problems, even though it does not meet the legal requirements.
Further studies about the water quality system of Puerto Berrío include the modeling of the oxidation ponds in order to analyze and predict their efficiency and performance under current and varying characteristics of the wastewater, such as increasing population or changes in the economic activities of the municipality. The software GPS-X from Hydromantis Inc. is recommended based on some attempts done in the frame of this study.
Regarding the models used for the present work, some limitations were found not only in the models but also in the data availability, since many assumptions had to be done. For better and more precise results, it is recommended to apply a water quality model that allows for the simultaneous modeling of several river reaches and calculates a more integral group of parameters. One model that was seen to fit these characteristics is the Qual2K from the USEPA. However, since the results of a model depend not only on it, but also on the quality and reliability of available information, a collection of primary data, including water quality and hydraulic data monitoring and bathymetry estimations, should be carried out specifically for this purpose.