Contamination of the Conchos River in Mexico: Does It Pose a Health Risk to Local Residents?

Hector Rubio-Arias, César Quintana, Jorge Jimenez-Castro, Ray Quintana and Melida Gutierrez
Additional contact information
Hector Rubio-Arias: College of Zoo-technology and Ecology, Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mozart 3109, Chihuahua 21203, Mexico
César Quintana: College of Zoo-technology and Ecology, Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mozart 3109, Chihuahua 21203, Mexico
Jorge Jimenez-Castro: College of Zoo-technology and Ecology, Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mozart 3109, Chihuahua 21203, Mexico
Ray Quintana: College of Zoo-technology and Ecology, Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mozart 3109, Chihuahua 21203, Mexico
Melida Gutierrez: Department of Geography, Geology and Planning, Missouri State University, 901 S. National, Springfield, MO 65897, USA

IJERPH, 2010, vol. 7, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: Presently, water contamination issues are of great concern worldwide. Mexico has not escaped this environmental problem, which negatively affects aquifers, water bodies and biodiversity; but most of all, public health. The objective was to determine the level of water contamination in six tributaries of the Conchos River and to relate their levels to human health risks. Bimonthly samples were obtained from each location during 2005 and 2006. Physical-chemical variables (temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), Total solids and total nitrogen) as well as heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, V, Zn, and Li) were determined. The statistical analysis considered yearly, monthly, and location effects, and their interactions. Temperatures differed only as a function of the sampling month (P -1 . The Cr was different for months (P -1 . The Cu, Fe, Mn, Va and Zn were different for years, months, and their interaction. The highest value of Cu was 2.50 mg L -1 ; forFe, it was 16.36 mg L -1 ; forMn it was 1.66 mg L -1 ; V was 0.55 mg L -1 ; and Zn was 0.53 mg L -1 . For Ni, there were differences for years (P = 0.030), months (P -1 . The Li level was the same for sampling month (P

Keywords: water contamination; Chihuahua; Mexico; metals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/5/2071/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/5/2071/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:7:y:2010:i:5:p:2071-2084:d:8191

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().