Abstract

BETANCOURT AGUILAR, Carmen; TARTABULL, Tania; LABAUT, Yeny  and  FERRADAZ, Roberto. PROCESSES IMPACTING IRRIGATION WATER QUALITY IN SEVERAL COASTAL WELLS OF CENTER-SOUTHERN CUBA. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2019, vol.35, n.3, pp.541-552.  Epub Aug 21, 2020. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2019.35.03.02.

Water quality is a variable to be controlled in irrigated agriculture. The objective of the present investigation was to identify the main processes that impact water quality for irrigation in wells located in the southeast of the coast of Cienfuegos Bay. A database from Hydraulic Resources enterprise was used, which included the concentrations of the major components and the electrical conductivity of the water of seven wells during the 1983-2013 period. To facilitate the data processing, a similarity analysis was performed that found three groups of wells with different physical and chemical characteristics. The identification of influential processes in each group was achieved through ionic relations and principal component analysis. In the characterization of water for irrigation, the following indicators were used: potential salinity (SP), permeability index (IP), sodium adsorption ratio, possible sodium percentage, residual sodium carbonate, electrical conductivity, total hardness (TH), Kelly relation and adsorption ratio of magnesium. The water of the three groups was calcium carbonate, with a higher proportion of these ions in the first group. The main processes identified were: rock washing, cation exchange, chloride and sodium contribution and salinization of the waters. The water met the requirements for irrigation; however, in the wells of the second and third group, there was an increase in the TH indicator, with a decrease in the PI related to anthropogenic activities developed in the basins.

Keywords : potential salinity; permeability index; ionic relations; anthropogenic activities.

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