Evaluación de la contaminación en agua y suelo causada por cementerios en los cantones Quito, Mejía y Rumiñahui : determinación de la idoneidad territorial de cementerios ubicados en zonas moderadamente adecuadas y muy adecuadas en los cantones Quito, Mejía y Rumiñahui.

Abstract

This work validated empirical environmental indices designed to identify areas suitable for the location of cemeteries, for which it was necessary to make field measurements and process geographic-environmental information on 10 variables that directly affect the transport of contaminants through the soil generated by the process of cadaveric decomposition that can contaminate surface and groundwater bodies. The first phase began with field work, where the depth of the water table was measured, and soil samples were taken to determine the textural class; the data for the variables that could not be determined in the field were obtained by processing bibliographic information and using tools such as ArcGIS Pro. Once the values were obtained for the 10 environmental variables in 5 cemeteries (Yaruquí, Tababela, Guangopolo, Descanso Eterno and Chavezpamba), they were standardized according to categorization criteria established in previous works and the validation was carried out in 9 linear empirical equations. The results of the validation showed that the equations are useful for establishing optimal areas for the location of cemeteries and showed that four environmental variables have the greatest impact on determining whether an area is suitable or not (water table, distance to a body of water, slope and precipitation). Finally, it was identified that, among the five cemeteries, the Chavezpamba cemetery is located in a very suitable area.