Surface Water Quality Assessment on a Wetland in Peru Using Grey Systems

Coastal wetlands play a fundamental role, as they give diverse ecosystem services to humanity. However, due to anthropic activities that take place in the coastal region, large areas of wetlands are being lost. A case in Peru is the Pantanos de Villa, a coastal wetland located in the district of Chorrillos and which after several years today represents an area of 263.27 hectares. In Peru, there are regulations and water quality indices, but there is not one specifically for wetlands. This work aims to propose a wetland water quality index based on international standards that have been used in the evaluation of water quality of wetlands, whose parameters adopted from these standards are dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, pH, nitrates, total phosphorus and total dissolved solids. The grey clustering method, which is based on grey systems, was used, as this method allows knowing and systemically understanding the behavior of the wetland. The index was applied to assess water quality of the Mayor, Genesis and Marvilla lagoons of Pantanos de Villa. The experimental data was obtained from the results of the monitoring carried out by the Municipal Authority of Pantanos de Villa from September 2020 to March 2021. The results showed that the three lagoons present a level of severe contamination.