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Sustainable Management of Water Resources in the Northern Area of Guacara River Basin, Venezuela

sustainable management,water resources,municipality management

The objective of this work was to carry out an analysis of the current situation of the drinking water supply in the Vigirima area of the Guacara municipality, Carabobo state (GM-CS), Venezuela, in order to make a proposal for sustainable management of water resources in the northern area of the GM-CS. The method involved: a) Analysis of the state of water resources, hydraulic catchment and distribution structures and supplied population. b) Examination of the legal, political, economic and strategic framework, the conservation, use and distribution of available water resources.  c) Estimation of the water balance of the Guacara River basin. To carry out a water balance, a monitoring station and a sampling frequency were established in order to determine the losses and contributions of water in that monitoring station and for study period. To estimate the water balance, the annual information on precipitation and evaporation from the Vigirima station, was used in the period from 1970 to 1982. d) Design of a comprehensive management plan for water resources. It consisted of creating a manual to provide a guide to improve the governance of water resources. On the annual scale, evaporation at all times exceeded precipitation values. The flows measured at three monitoring stations on the Guacara River were La Manga (17-66 L/s), La Fabianera (26-34 L/s) and El Jengibre (19-51 L/s). The water quality of the Guacara River at a monitoring station on the Guacara River (N10°20'34”,O67°54'4.5”) met the physicochemical and biological parameters with environment regulation. The hydraulic collection and distribution structures were found in a precarious situation due to lack of maintenance, poor operation, design errors or that these reached their useful life. Additionally, the community of the La Manga sector of 408 inhabitants, although it did not present a water supply problem, lacks an aqueduct network; the inhabitants were detected illegally connected to the adduction pipe of the reserve tank that is out of service. An administration plan for the area's water resources was established and it was proposed, through an ordinance, the creation of a governing body for implementing such plan, in charge of directing and executing public policies for technical assistance, control and conservation of the area's water resources in the northern zone of the GM-CS, to regulate the activities of collection, purification, storage and distribution of drinking water, as well as to conserve and generate sustainable economic activities in the Guacara River basin.