Bases y criterios para la determinación del caudal ecológico en ríos altoandinos tropicales

Abstract

The term ecological flow began to be used since 1970, and it was broosted in developed economies countries because rivers were fragmented because of building dams for water storage that later generates hydropower, water supply, irrigation, etc. In Ecuador the Republic Constitution considers this tendency and establishes the ecological flow in third priority order (after human consumption and irrigation for food sovereignty) since 2008 which sets a debate on the method of estimating this flow and its implementation at national level.