Impact of the Jamapa River Basin on the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

The Jamapa River basin is located in the central region of the State of Veracruz, it is born in the Pico de Orizaba and connects with the Veracruz Reef System in the Gulf of Mexico, both protected natural areas. The lower part of the basin has the contribution of two important effluents, Arroyo Moreno, which is a protected natural area, strongly impacted due to municipal discharges from the metropolitan cities Veracruz-Boca del Río-Medellín. And the Estero, which is part of a complex aquatic system that discharges its waters from the Lagunar Mandinga system to the Gulf of Mexico. Currently, there is a diversity of chemical and biological compounds that the basin receives from different sources of freshwater pollution, such as industrial waste, sewage, agricultural and urban runoff, and the accumulation of sediments. The climatic seasons are the determining factors in the composition of its sediments, due to the force exerted on the bottom of the river by the increase in rainfall, the force of the winds mainly in the north wind season, where the greatest quantity of polluting materials.