Análisis comparativo de la estimación de caudales ambientales a través de diferentes enfoques holísticos. Caso de estudio: Cuenca alta del río Magdalena

Colombia is the second Latin American country with the greatest hydroelectric potential, with 26 hydroelectric plants (until 2015) and expansion projections for 30 more projects. In the presence of such a number of hydraulic structures, the over-regulation of the water currents where these are found occurs. Thus generating the hydrological alteration of the flow regime and the modification of the aquatic biota present. So, the study of environmental flow from a holistic perspective was essential for a country with water resources and biodiversity such as Colombia. Recently, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development proposed the Methodological Guide for the Estimation of Environmental Flows in Colombia (GMECAC). This seeks to standardize the estimation of flows in Colombia in the framework of the integral management of water resources at the basin level. For this, the five components of the environmental flow regime are considered within the physical, chemical and biological processes of the ecosystem. This research presents the comparative analysis of this methodology in relation to a holistic methodology highly recognized worldwide. The analysis was made from a qualitative comparison and a quantitative comparison; qualitative comparison in terms of scope and processes involved for the implementation of each of the approaches under study. In the quantitative comparison, the differences between the methodologies resulting from the environmental flow regimes calculated from the environmental and economic point of view for different reservoir operation scenarios were identified. As a result, for the two methodologies, the scenario of the operation rule of the reservoir that generates the least alterations, its hydro-energy production and the associated economic costs with respect to the actual operating rule of the Betania dam were obtained. It was observed that GMECAC represents a greater economic growth for the region in terms of hydropower production and ELOHA evaluates the impact generated by the operation of the reservoir in a way that allows to know the severity of the alteration and the direction of the same. Additionally, the viable operating scenario was the most environmentally conservative scenario, without implying a significant economic loss in relation to hydroelectric power production.

• Autores: Rodríguez Blásquez, Yesica Alejandra
• Fecha de publicación: 2019
• Institución: Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito
• Repositorio: Repositorio Institucional ECI
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.escuelaing.edu.co:001/1026
• Acceso en línea: https://catalogo.escuelaing.edu.co/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=22186; https://repositorio.escuelaing.edu.co/handle/001/1026
• Palabra clave: Régimen de caudal ambiental; Metodologías holísticas; Caudal ambiental; Ecosistemas de agua dulce; Análisis comparativo; ELOHA; Environmental flow regime; Holistic methodologies; E-flows; Freshwater ecosystems; Comparative analysis; ELOHA
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Derechos Reservados - Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito, 2016