Description

The former Texcoco Lake (TL) belongs to a closed basin (Basin of México), with a semi-arid climate and soil types Solonchaks and Vertisol, which confer saline and alkaline properties to the waterbodies. Historically, this lake has been facing extraction of salt for agricultural and livestock use. As a result of population growth, the lake has lost more than 95% of its surface; however, currently TL is formed by permanent and temporary shallow wetlands interconnected by the rainy season which are used as buffer zones to avoid possible floods to the City of Mexico and as receptors of wastewater discharges. Due to the above, the former TL has a very diverse mosaic of conditions in the remaining wetlands, therefore their quality assessment comprises a complex task of interpretation and analysis. To perform this, it is important to have a series of indicators and analysis tools that take into account the state of contamination of the waterbodies in different periods of study. Additionally, is imperative to have essential elements of interpretation which allow to combine all the features of analysis in a comprehensive scrutiny of the health status of these water bodies. The purpose of this research is to analyze the quality of water and sediments of the remaining wetlands located in the basin of the former TL through various physicochemical parameters and heavy metals, and using multivariate methods and water and sediment quality indices.

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