Evaluation of water resources for irrigation purposes in the Keraya micro-basin, municipality of Cairoma

Ronald Freddy Peralta Laura; Braulio H. Calle M.

Abstract

The water balance aims to perform a spatial and temporal quantitative assessment of water resources. Likewise, the quality of irrigation water is determined by the composition and concentration of the different elements that may have, this determines the type of crop to be planted and the type of management that must be given to the soil. The objectives were to determine the physical parameters, perform the hydrological balance and analyze the quality of the irrigation water. The evaluation was of the Keraya micro-basin, municipality of Cairoma, Department of La Paz. The methodology consisted of the evaluation of the physical and topographic characteristics, water balance, water quality analysis and its statistical evaluation. The density of drainage is 0.8 km^-2 channels in the micro-basin, the concentration time is 1.99 hours, the effective precipitation for 2014 was 753.00 mm and for 2015 451.69 mm with probabilities of 72.73% and 81.82%, the months with more water in the microbasin and in its drainage networks, are from September to March and the months with the lowest supply are between May and August, with the presence of frost. The Keraya River comes from the melting of the glaciers of the Eastern mountain range and the monthly precipitations of the head of the basin, in total an annual volume of 2473.14 m³ is offered. The months with storage of water in the soil are February and March, having a deficit of humidity in the remaining months. The crops have a higher reference evapotranspiration during the month of November, coinciding with the highest development cycle of the crops. The water in the microbasin is suitable for irrigation because it belongs to the C1S1 class, the pH is slightly acidic in the headwaters of the basin and slightly basic during its downstream journey.