Water bodies affected by wastewater discharge in the Quebrada la Tonchalera,Cúcuta 2024-2025

When a body of water is seriously affected by anthropogenic activities, it is necessary to carry out a series of analyzes that will allow us to find the factors that alter its natural state and from this it will be possible to develop a diagnosis. Despite
Colombia has a water potential three times greater than the average of South American countries and six times greater than
The global average specific water supply presents serious problems in the availability of quality water in
many regions; especially, those more populated areas. This is mainly due to pollution,
deforestation, erosion, loss of retention capacity and regulation of water resources, drastically altering the
biodiversity and ecosystems that directly and indirectly regulate water supply. This difficult situation of
quality of rivers has increased general interest, in order to determine the components that influence the
structure, composition and current dynamics of hydrographic basins.

The question or hypothesis is posed: The greater the amount of physical, chemical and biological contaminating agents, the greater the amount of contamination in the water of the Quebrada La Tonchalera.

The type of study has a descriptive level and field design.

Visits were made along the Quebrada La Tonchalera and geolocation of sampling points in March 2023, having contact with the population of the sector. After the visit, the materials for sampling were organized; The first sampling was carried out on April 19, 2023, performing microbiological analysis to search for coliforms, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp. On May 17, 2023, samples were taken for physicochemical analysis, which included: determination of Cadmium, Copper, Biological Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand, Mercury, and Lead.

The total absence of Salmonella stands out in the results obtained, because the water may contain traces of detergents, disinfectants and other substances that inhibit it.
In all the samples carried out at the moment, coliforms, Escherichia coli, were found, thus evidencing the contamination of fecal origin that occurs in the sampled points.

当水体受到人为活动的严重干扰时，需开展系列分析以识别改变其自然状态的影响因子，并据此开展诊断评估。尽管哥伦比亚的水资源潜力为南美国家平均水平的3倍、全球人均水资源拥有量的6倍，但全球诸多区域——尤其是人口稠密地带——的优质水资源供给仍面临严峻问题。上述问题主要源于污染、森林砍伐、水土流失、水资源涵养与调节能力丧失，极大破坏了直接或间接调控水资源供给的生物多样性与生态系统。河流水质的严峻现状也引发了广泛关注，促使研究者探明影响水文流域结构、组成与当前动态的关键要素。

本研究提出如下研究假设：物理、化学与生物类污染物的负荷越高，拉通查莱拉溪（Quebrada La Tonchalera）的水体污染程度就越严重。

本研究属于描述性野外调查研究。

2023年3月，研究团队沿拉通查莱拉溪开展踏勘，完成采样点的地理定位，并与流域周边居民进行了沟通。踏勘结束后完成采样器材筹备；首次采样于2023年4月19日开展，针对大肠菌群、大肠埃希氏菌（Escherichia coli）、铜绿假单胞菌（Pseudomonas aeruginosa）及沙门氏菌属（Salmonella spp.）开展微生物学检测。2023年5月17日采集第二批样本，用于理化分析，检测指标包括镉、铜、生化需氧量（Biological Oxygen Demand）、化学需氧量（Chemical Oxygen Demand）、汞与铅。

本次检测结果中最显著的特征为未检出沙门氏菌，推测原因可能为水体中含有痕量洗涤剂、消毒剂及其他抑菌类物质。截至目前的全部采样样本中均检出大肠菌群与大肠埃希氏菌，证明采样点均存在粪便源性污染。