Gestión integrada de recursos hídricos. Caso de estudio: diagnóstico, evaluación y propuestas de mejora para la gestión eficiente de la derivación Cañas Viejas del sistema de Riego Pasaje Machala, provincia de El Oro, Ecuador

Abstract

Abstract: This research focuses on water resource management in the Pasaje-Machala irrigation system, with an emphasis on the Cañas Viejas diversion and a representative property within it. The main objective was to diagnose, evaluate, and hydraulically model the flow in the civil infrastructure of the main and secondary canals, with the aim of analyzing the efficiency of the Pasaje-Machala irrigation system. For this purpose, IBER 3.3.1 software was used to model the free-surface flow in the canal, and WaterGEMS was used to model the pressurized flow in the pressurized system on the agricultural property. The hydraulic diagnosis indicated that in section 1, the sand trap does not completely retain solids, leading to sediment accumulation in the main Pasaje-Machala canal and in the secondary Cañas Viejas canal. In section 3, it was observed that operating with a depth of 1 m and a flow velocity of 0.70 m/s causes overflow in the Cañas Viejas canal. On the representative property, an agronomic redesign was proposed to adjust irrigation distribution. It was determined that there are hydraulic and structural aspects that require intervention, so technical measures are proposed to improve the functioning of the Pasaje Machala and Cañas Viejas irrigation system.