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Contaminación del río Rímac por metales pesados y efecto en la agricultura en el cono este de Lima Metropolitana
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Soto, J. Saúl, Henry |
| Copyright Year | 2006 |
| Abstract | This research involves an analysis of heavy metal pollution in the Rimac River basin to determine the environmental risks and the impact on soil, the water and the vegetables in the locality of Carapongo. The objectives of the present study are first, to study the historical data (spatio–temporal) on the quality of water of the Rimac River basin. The specific objectives are: a) to document and analyze the sources of pollution in the Rimac river basin, in the present and in the past. b) To map the spatial distribution of heavy metals in the entire Rimac River basin using secondary data, and c) To determine whether municipal and national environmental regulations have influenced the reduction of the pollution in the Rimac River. The second major objective is to evaluate existing environmental risks affecting the agricultural land, water and vegetables in the locality of Carapongo. The specific objectives are a) to understand the farmers perception concerning the water quality used in vegetable irrigations b) to characterize the actual levels of heavy metals in water in the main weir and irrigation canals of Carapongo c) to determine the environmental risks due to the absorption of heavy metals in the soil and the risks to human health because of heavy metal concentration in vegetables and d) to propose general recommendations to improve the quality of agriculture products. This study shows that historical information on water quality implemented in a geographic information system (GIS) is a useful tool to evaluate pollution trends, to evaluate risk areas for a given pollutant, to map areas suitable for some type of exploitation and to understand spatially the problem of water-pollution in the entire basin. Cadmium and Cromium content in the last eight years in the Rimac basin have been less than the maximum permissible limits (MPL) (acceptable for the irrigation of vegetables). However, three of eight years for Arsenic and seven of eight years for lead have affected the lower part of the basin with heavy metals, which is not acceptable for the irrigation of vegetables. Arsenic and lead are contributed to a great extent by the mining exploitations in the upper part of the basin. There is significant signs that arsenic content has improved its quality levels in the last two years, however, lead content are always above the MPL and there is no significant reduction of lead in the Rimac basin. The appraisal of how farmers perceive the risk to pollution and exposure of contaminants is very complex. These results show that the perception of farmers on the water quality is attributed mainly to factors that are easily observed in the irrigation canals as domestic sewages and solid waste of urbanizations (73%). If the exposure is not visible, the perception of the risk is less obvious for the farmers (11%). For this reason, the estimations of risk of contaminants in the environment and assessment of health risk are part of the evaluation, and the perception of the farmers to those risks is the other part that is necessary to show and to sensitize. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd67/riorimac/indice.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
