the Medellin RiverbyVALERIA BENAVIDES ANDRES ALEJANDRO SANCHEZ ANDJOSUE RUA CADAVID

introduction

• Water is a vital resource used for many purposes such as human consumption and animals, irrigation in agriculture, industrial consumption and generation of electric power, navigation, forestry and recreation. Each application represents different parameters on the quality of water, for analysis parameters or indicators physicists and chemists are used to evaluate conditions and trends.

the Medellín River• The Medellín River or river Aburrá is a Colombian

River which flows through the city of Medellín and its metropolitan area. Born to 3100 meters above sea level in the high of San Miguel, in the municipality of Caldas, South of the Aburrá Valley, and 100 kilometers later, already with the name of Rio Porce, pours its waters into the river Nechi.

• El río Medellín pierde su nombre a la altura del municipio de Barbosa, en donde comienza a ser llamado río Porce, que desemboca unos kilómetros más tarde en el río Nechí, que a su vez se vierte en el río Cauca, cuyas aguas desembocan en el rio Magdalena en Bolívar.

BACKGROUND• Throughout the history of the city, the river

fulfilled the role of landfill of sewage, which is still contaminated with tons of organic matter and toxic waste as cyanides, phenols, sulphides, mercury and lead. Apart from the pollution that is inherent, the river has suffered other concurrent problems such as deforestation, solid wastes, landfill debris, etc.

DEVELOPMENT• Since decades behind the Medellin River has been

one of the major concerns of the local City Hall, as one hundred kilometers that runs along the River, just three miles are free of contamination.

DEVELOPMENT• From the third kilometer, sand extraction and the

dumping of the waste water of the city were to be a very polluted river that produced very strong smells in summer situation that was improving thanks to the opening of the center of wastewater treatment in the South of the Aburrá Valley.

CAUSES OF POLLUTION• Since 1996 the river has been one of the major concerns of the

local City Hall, as one hundred kilometers that runs along the River, just three miles are free of contamination. From the third kilometer, sand extraction and the dumping of the waste water of the city were to be a very polluted river that produced very strong smells in summer situation that was improving thanks to the opening of the center of wastewater treatment in the South of the Aburrá Valley; that is why the Mayor of Medellín, with the help of the Metropolitan Area, have planned a contingency plan, which foresees the creation of two plants for wastewater treatment, as well as the prohibition of discard wastewater directly to the river without having a minimum treatment.

MAIN POLLUTANTS• Agents pathogens-bacteria, viruses, protozoa,

parasites that enter the water from organic waste.• Waste requiring oxygen-organic waste can be

decomposed by bacteria that use oxygen to biodegradable's. If there are large populations of these bacteria, they can deplete the oxygen from the water, killing aquatic life forms as well.

• Inorganic chemicals-acids, compounds of toxic metals (mercury, lead), poison the water.

• Plant nutrients can cause excessive growth of aquatic plants that then die and decompose, depleting oxygen from the water and thus kill marine species (dead zone).

MAIN POLLUTANTS• Organic chemicals-petroleum, plastics, pesticides,

detergents, life-threatening.• Sediments or suspended matter-insoluble soil

particles that cloud the water, and which are a major source of pollution.

• Heat-water revenue hot reduced oxygen content and makes very vulnerable aquatic organisms.

MAIN POLLUTANTS

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