Abstract
Lago de Colina (Colina Lake) is located about 180 km south of the city of Chihuahua (Mexico), and during the Semana Santa (Holy Week) vacation period its recreational use is high. The objective of this study was to quantify coliform and heavy metal levels in this water body before and after the Holy Week vacation period in 2010. Twenty sampling points were randomly selected and two water samples were collected at each point near the surface (0.30 m) and at 1 m depth. After the Holy Week vacation the same twenty points were sampled at the same depths. Therefore, a total 80 water samples were analyzed for fecal and total coliforms and levels of the following metals: Al, As, B, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Se, Si and Zn. It was hypothesized that domestic tourism contaminated this water body, and as a consequence, could have a negative impact on visitor health. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) study was performed for each element and its interactions considering a factorial design where factor A was sample date and factor B was sample depth. Fecal coliforms were only detected at eight sampling points in the first week, but after Holy Week, both fecal and total coliforms were detected at most sampling points. The concentrations of Al, B, Na, Ni and Se were only statistically different for factor A. The levels of Cr, Cu, K and Mg was different for both date and depth, but the dual factor interaction was not significant. The amount of Ca and Zn was statistically different due to date, depth and their interaction. No significant differences were found for any factor or the interaction for the elements As, Fe and Mn. Because of the consistent results, it is concluded that local tourism is contaminating the recreational area of Colina Lake, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Highlights
The Mexican government is beginning to promote domestic tourism throughout Mexico as a means to generate new jobs and to improve local economies
After the Holy Week vacation period, the lake is notorious for having large amounts of trash in the area, and reception of discharged domestic wastewaters and solid waste dumping and we hypothesized that the water would be contaminated, creating a dangerous conditions for visitors as well as for the local inhabitants in the Colina Lake area and that the viability of the recreational center might be in jeopardy
The electrical conductivity (EC) was obtained with the same device used to determine the pH according to the Mexican norm NMX-AA-093-SCF [10]
Summary
The Mexican government is beginning to promote domestic tourism throughout Mexico as a means to generate new jobs and to improve local economies. After the Holy Week vacation period, the lake is notorious for having large amounts of trash in the area, and reception of discharged domestic wastewaters and solid waste dumping and we hypothesized that the water would be contaminated, creating a dangerous conditions for visitors as well as for the local inhabitants in the Colina Lake area and that the viability of the recreational center might be in jeopardy. The objective of this study was to quantify fecal and heavy metal levels in the water of the Colina Lake before and after the Holy Week vacation period These results will be important for the different levels of Chihuahua’s authorities to promote future conservation actions for this aquatic resource to have a clean environment; otherwise it will be undermined as one of the state’s major economic tourist forces
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