Interbasin water transfer: The case of the Nexapa River, Mexico

The lack of an equitably distributed water supply for human and agricultural use has led to source management as complex as interbasin water transfer. Besides its benefits, this redistribution of water also produces pollutant transport from one basin to another. In this sense, this work studies the impact of the water transfer from two rivers in Puebla, Mexico. The Atoyac River water is transferred to Nexapa River to provide water for agricultural usage, but although the irrigation needs are covered, the pollution load of the Atoyac River is also transferred to the Nexapa River. It is observed that chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, total and fecal coliforms values increase abruptly in the water transferring point.