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Abstract:
The city of Morelia (western Mexico) has a population of 800,000 inhabitants and constant urban growth, requiring large volumes of water and facing problems with the supply, causing a deficit and affecting water availability.The study evaluates the quality conditions in which the main sources of supply are found, through physicochemical and isotopic characterization, used as tools to relate the intense use of water with the natural water cycle and its renewability. By studying the relative abundance of stable isotopes and differences in physicochemical parameters of rainwater, surface water, groundwater, and spring sources, natural recharge and discharge processes can be analyzed, as well as the effect of groundwater overexploitation.Two samplings were carried out, one in 2018 for rainwater (with more than 70 samples), and another in February 2021, from the drinking water supply system (operated by a local water agency), collecting 76 samples from wells, springs, and surface streams. Climatological precipitation and temperature data were collected and processed with hydrogeological and isotope data.The isotopic data were compared with the Water Isotopes database of sites near the study area, and a provisional Local Meteoric Line (LML) was determined. The isotopic and physicochemical results of the water from supply sources (wells, springs, rivers), their analysis through bivariate graphs, hydrogeochemical classification, and spatial distribution in the study area give an idea of the groundwater flow dynamics and its relationship with its exploitation, observing a similar behavior between some of the parameters measured in the field for the different water sources.
