Influencia de los cambios de uso de suelo sobre la disponibilidad de agua: El caso de la Cuenca Alta del Río Guayllabamba: evaluación de la influencia del cambio de uso del suelo sobre la disponibilidad de agua en la Cuenca Alta del Río Guayllabamba, mediante la modelación hidrológica como herramienta de análisis.

Abstract

Watersheds contribute to the flow of water to the rivers through the land areas that have been affected by population growth and economic progress that has caused changes in land cover, causing alterations in ecosystems and especially in water. Therefore, the project aims to evaluate water availability in the Upper Guayllabamba River Basin located in the Ecuadorian highlands, with an area of 6427.35 km2, as a result of changes in land use. The evaluation of water availability was carried out at hydrological station H-0146 (DJ-Alambi) based on land use cover maps for the years 1982 and 2014. For the use of meteorological and hydrometeorological data, daily values of precipitation, evapotranspiration and flow were used. Based on this information and using land use data, the HEC-HMS hydrological model was used, where the calibration of the models was carried out, so that a subsequent simulation could be carried out and thus estimate water availability. Through the results obtained from the simulation in the hydrological model, a proportional precipitation - flow relationship is presented, and it is also established that for the year 2014 there was an increase of 36.86% of flow due to the conditions of land use change. The results of this research may be appropriate to update the studies on water availability, for better decision making aimed at proper management of water resources in the basin.