Hydrogeochemical study for the evaluation of potential water sources in the community of Palo Colorado, Guanajuato

The project seeks to generate an overview of the water resources situation in the Palo Colorado community, Mexico. This community was chosen as the study site because it is located within a mining region with a high degree of marginalization, where further studies on water assessment and supply are necessary. The region was many abandoned mining projects, where the wastes and tailings were left exposed to weatherization. The abandoned sinkholes were later floded and used as water reservoirs for domestic and agricultural uses. Preliminary analyses show that the water from two of its main dams, “La Cruz Dam” and “Chica Dam”, is contaminated with potentially toxic elements (EPTs), such as Cr, Hg and Pb above the maximum permissible limits of the drinking water normativity. Furthermore, the presence of this heavy metals has been linked to health issues within the inhabitants of the community. The objective of the study is to diagnose and evaluate water quality, and the sustainable use of water resources, through hydrogeochemical studies to understand the mechanisms that govern the liberation, mobility and fate of the PTEs in order to develope a remediation strategy or water treatment solution.