Determinación del balance y demanda hídrica en la microcuenca del Río Atapo, parroquia Palmira, cantón Guamote, provincia de Chimborazo

Abstract

This research proposal is to determine the water balance in the river Atapo watershed in order to establish recommendations for appropriate use of the available water resources, in Palmira and Tixán towns, Guamote and Alausí counties, Chimborazo province; at the beginning the proposal was socialized to beneficiary communities, then it was delimited by establishing three areas in the watershed according to altitude range and two according to the slope, six temporary weather stations were installed to record the rainfall and evaporation variables, infiltration and overflow tests were also conducted according to the slopes by using a double ring infiltration cylinder and a drip tray to determine the water balance in the 14284,28 acres of the watershed; for this purpose the Pp – Qe – DR – Evtr = 0 formula was applied, proposed by Nicolay 2007, in the watersheds sustainable management manual; the variables calculation results were precipitation average 746,3 mm, with a volume of 107656,63 m3/year, evapotranspiration recorded 1349,3 mm, with a volume of 108905,87 m3/year, overflow was 46086,44 m3/year, the volumetric flow in the main riverbed presented a volume of 1,341 m3/s, a total volume of water of 2,653 m3/s obtained from the resulting and volumetric flow, finally the infiltration volume was 61570,20 m3/year, these results determined that the watershed registers a water deficit of 47335,66 m3/year. It is recommended to develop studies in order to have references as a basis for future water systems. Keywords: Hydrological balance, Water demand, Water supply, Evapotranspiration, Precipitation, Overflow, Infiltration, Hydrological cycle.