Water treatment in artificial lagoons in the Bolivian Chaco through biological technology and its economic valuation

Abstract

The constructions of precarious types helters without any basic service in the communities of the Bolivian Chaco, over time they generate contaminated water that causes gastrointestinal diseases (EDA) causing mortality; the main cause is contaminated water. First there was a preliminary treatment that had the objective of conditioning the water, for its entrance to the plant, by means of the construction of two ponds or lagoons and a tank to improve the living conditions of 295 indigenous families of two communities, New Ranch (Yarumbairú) and Old Ranch (Guirapembi) in the Municipal jurisdiction of Charagua, called captive communities without access to water, according to their size they were filled with floating aquatic plants, which has allowed us to know the operation of the removal of nutrients, biological demand of oxygen and bacteria. The biological treatment removed the amount of Fecal Coliforms and Total Coliforms, as well as the phosphate content; Finally, a basic chemical treatment was obtained, based only on disinfection to comply with the minimum health criteria. For the maintenance of the plant and the quality of the water a rate has been designed modeling the user’s in come levels through the measurement of the direct use value and the value of indirect use.