IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2012) 3-1

Research article
erd

Input of Pollutants by the Tributaries of Lake Yojoa,Honduras
CARLOS ONAN MENDOZA TOVAR
Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Email: onan14@yahoo.com

MACHITO MIHARA*
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Email: m-mihara@nodai.ac.jp

HIROMU OKAZAWA
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Received 14 December 2011

Accepted 2 April 2012(*: Corresponding Author)

Abstract Lake Yojoa is the only freshwater lake in Honduras. Its principal water sources
are Yure and Varsovia Rivers and Cianuro Creek. There are three principal contaminantsof the Lake Yojoa: agrochemical contaminants, microbiological pathogens and heavy
metals. So, the main objective of this study is to evaluate and quantify the amounts ofpollutants that each water source deposits in the Lake Yojoa. Based on the historical dataof precipitation over the watersheds, water samples taken from each water source wereanalyzed for calculating specific load in each watershed. The specific load was calculated
by multiplying the water flow with the concentration and then divided by the area of eachwatershed. In addition, statistical analysis was conducted employing   “SPSS   15”.   As   a  result, there was no statistical difference in the amounts of monthly rainfalls amongwatersheds. The water flow, concentration as well as load and specific load differedamong water sources. The results indicated that there was a tendency for Cianuro Creek tobe the highest in specific load of organic matter and the only one in nitrogen as nitrite
among water sources. The highest in specific load of potassium and chlorine was observedin Yure River. In addition, the quantity of pollutants discharged into the Lake Yojoa fromwater sources presents a threat of water degradation, especially eutrophication. A need of
mitigating and reducing the amounts of pollutants is a reality. The high load of sulfate
released by Cianuro Creek and Yure River present a threat not only for wild life, but also
for humans that live near the lake. It was proposed that a filtering system should be
prepared specifically to extract the pollutants carried by water sources that can be easily
applied.
Keywords pollutants, eutrophication, specific load, Lake Yojoa

INTRODUCTION
Lake Yojoa is the only freshwater lake in Honduras and was designated as Protected Area Number
5 in the category of multiple uses according to the 71st decree of 8th of December 1971 by thegovernment of Honduras. It is located 75km to the south of San Pedro Sula in the area where thedepartments of Comayagua, Santa Bárbara and Cortés converge. It is a monomictic lake, that is, thewater mixes once a year.
The lake is surrounded by the National parks Meámbar and Cerro Azul and the mountain
Santa Barbara from where 100% of the water is provided to the lake. Its principal water sources areYure and Varsovia rivers. These two are artificially diverted to the lake, and the Cianuro Creek thathas the higher water flow comparing to the other creeks,such as Horconcitos, La Jutosa, Balas, andLa Pita creeks.
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Table 1 General information of Lake Yojoa
Altitude(masl)
632

Length(km)16.2

Width(km)4Perimeter(km)88Surface(km2)
54

Averagedepth (m)28

Averagetemp. (oC)24

Source: AMUPROLAGO, 2010

LEGEND
Sport fisheries
Agriculture andcattle
Fish production

1

1.- Cianuro watershed
2.- Varsovia watershed
3.- Yure watershedΟ Precipitation stations

3

Hotels andrestaurants
Mining2

Archeologicalsite

Fig. 1 Land use map of Lake Yojoa
In the world, different water management techniques have been developed (de Vries et al.,2008; UNDP, 1999; Pebbles, 2003; Lee, 2005). Most of the treatments are focused on reservoirs
rather than on their water sources. Another approach is the management of water usage of thereservoir  and  other  zones  for  reduction  of  water  degradation  (Queen’s  printer,  1999;;  British  Land  Company, 2008; Georgia Water Council, 2008). And the last is the maintenance of storm water toimprove the water quality of a reservoir (Heiker, 2005).
There are three principal contaminants of the watersheds of the Lake Yojoa: agrochemical
contaminants, mostly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N P K), microbiological pathogens,mostly from coli forms, and finally heavy metals. There is nearly no information on agrochemical
contaminants in the lake or the water sources, little on the microbiological pathogens and certain
quantity of information on heavy metals. Most of the investigations done are focused on the lake
(House, 2002; Studer et al., 2007; Figueroa, 1976) although (Borjas et al., 1999) water quality datataken from the top part of the Meámbar zone resulted in no contamination from the highest parts.
Data presented by Vaux et al. (1993) showed coli form level in the lake to be higher than thosepermitted in public beaches in USA (200 cfu/100 ml); but showed that the samples taken were very
different from site to site. Samples varied from 1 cfu up to 240,000 cfu per 100ml.
Currently, water pollution in Lake Yojoa has become a big concern in Honduras. So, attention
has been paid to the amounts of pollutants discharged into the Lake Yojoa. So, the main objectiveof this study is to evaluate and quantify the amounts of pollutants that each water source deposits inthe Lake Yojoa. Also a secondary objective is to determine the need for a pollution mitigation plan
to be set up and carried out.

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METHODOLOGY
Research site
The watershed of Cianuro Creek is located to the west of Lake Yojoa and has an extension of6,212.89 ha, where Las Vegas municipality represents 84% of the total extension. Las Vegas is thebiggest human settlement in the region.
The Varsovia River watershed is located to the south east of Lake Yojoa. It has an extensionof 5,379.17 ha. This river does not drain directly to the Lake Yojoa but is connected to it by a man
made earth channel.
Yure River watershed is located to the south east of the Lake Yojoa, north to Varsovia
watershed. It has a territorial extension of 3,558.41 ha. Although this river does not drain directly tothe  lake,  it’s  connected through a concrete channel.
Table 2 Land coverageRiverwatershed

Total area

FarmlandWoodland

Pasture

(ha)

Human
settlement(ha)

Wetland

(ha)

Water
bodies
(ha)

(ha)

Naked
land
(ha)

(ha)

(ha)

Cianuro6,212.89(100%)

252.32(4.06%)

1,082.82(17.43%)2,792.76(44.95%)

1,965.11(31.63%)0.03(0.0004%)

15.50(0.25%)

104.35(1.68%)

Varsovia

5,379.17(100%)

35.48(0.66%)

268.61(4.99%)

3,747.45(69.67%)

1,280.68(23.80%)

0.90(0.02%)

12.23(0.23%)

33.82(0.63%)

Yure

3,558.41(100%)34.59(0.97%)

66.95(1.88%)

2,503.62(70.36%)882.62(24.80%)45.27(1.28%)

15.44(0.43%)

9.92(0.28%)

Source: AMUPROLAGO, 2010

The land considered as overused is represented by the percentage of farmland and pasture that
does not have a resting period. Mining is the main income source for the population in Cianurowatershed. Overused land is 43.26%. Agriculture and cattle husbandry are the main income sources
for the population in Varsovia watershed. The overused land in Varsovia watershed is 22.68%.
Cattle production is the main income for the population in Yure watershed. The 23.59% of the land
is in overuse.
Research methods
Historical data recorded by the Honduran National Electric Energy Company (ENEE) on
precipitation over the watersheds of the main rivers and creek that discharge to the Lake Yojoa wasacquired. Precipitation data comprised the monthly precipitation from 1988 to 2010. Collectingstations are placed strategically in sites representing the three main watersheds to Lake Yojoa (Fig.
1). Due to the high percentage of woodland in all the sites, calculations for pollutants were madefrom water collected before the effect of human activities during the day to avoid alterations in thequality.
Six water samples were taken from the water sources on July 21st 2011. The samples weretaken as follows.
Two samples were taken from each river at the same time; the samples were taken at 6:30 am
and 7:30 am as to avoid human activities of that day. Each sample site was marked by a GPS. At
the same time span, the water flow of each river was observed in sites.
Water samples were analyzed for organic matter (OM), pH, electric conductivity (EC),phosphorus (P), potassium (K), chlorine (Cl-), nitrogen as nitrite (NO3-), and sulfate (SO42-).

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Samples taken from each water source were analyzed for calculating specific load in eachwatershed. All the data were introduced   to   “SPSS   15   for   Windows”   program   for   the   statistical  analysis  (α=0.05). The specific load was calculated as follows.
SL = ( Q x C ) / A(1)

where SL (kg/s/km2) is specific load, Q (l/s) is water flow, C (kg/l) is concentration and A(km ) is area of the watershed.
2

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Precipitation and water flow
The rainfall data collected showed that there was no statistical difference in the amounts ofmonthly rainfall among watersheds. The water flow showed statistical differences among water
sources although precipitation did not show statistical difference. Table 3 shows the mean of thewater flow of each water source during the sampling period.
Average Rainfall by Watershedlocation
600.00

CianuroVarsovia
YureRainfall (mm)Rainfall (mm/month

500.00400.00300.00200.00100.00

0.00
January
March
February

May
April

July
June

September
NovemberAugustOctober
DecemberMonth
Average 1988-2010

Fig. 2 Average monthly rainfall by watershed 1988-2010
Table 3 Average water flow towards the Lake (July, 2011)
Water source

Cianuro (m3/s)

Varsovia (m3/s)

Yure (m3/s)

Water Flow

2.48c±0.16

3.65b±0.04

5.66a±0.13

Different super indexes indicate statistical difference at 99% between columns

Input of pollutants to Lake Yojoa
The analyzed water samples showed that none of the three rivers transported phosphorus. In almost
all of the analyzed nutrients there were statistical differences, placing the Cianuro Creek as thehighest NO3 carrier. In spite of this difference, to determine which river transports more amount ofpollutants to the lake, the specific load was used. In Table 4, the specific loads of each water source
were summarized.
The analysis showed that there was a statistical difference between Yure and the other twowater sources and no difference between Cianuro and Varsovia water sources regarding pH,organic matter and chlorine. Yure River had the highest specific load of potassium, chlorine andsulfate. No difference in the potassium load among the sources. Cianuro Creek indicated thehighest specific load of nitrogen in the form of nitrate that may create an environment for the super
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dissolved   oxygen   at   night   causing   problems   to   the   lake’s   water   life. These nitrogen components
may be derived from fertilizers applied to the farmlands in the watersheds.
Table 4 Mean separation of specific loads of each river (July, 2011)
Water source

pHCianuro
Varsovia
Yure

7.72a
7.68a
7.10b

EC
(mS/cm)28.50a41.00a19.00aOM(kg/s/km2)
0.13a
0.15a
0.03b

K
(kg/s/km2)
0.11a
0.26a
0.66a

Cl
(kg/s/km2)
0.42b
0.49b1.13aNO3(kg/s/km2)
0.38a
0.00b
0.00b

SO4(kg/s/km2)
1.29a
0.37b
1.51a

Means in the same column with different letters are statistically different at a significance of 0.05

Vevey (1990) took samples of the sediments inside the Lake Yojoa and found high levels ofcontamination of heavy metals, the highest point near the outflow of Cianuro Creek. Althoughthese high levels were found, they were not bio-available as the concentrations in fish and wildlife
are very low.
Table 5 Land use versus specific loads of pollutant by Pearson correlation
Correlations
Human settlement
FarmlandWoodland
PastureWater bodies
Wetland
Naked land

pH
0.470
0.682
-0.5580.440-0.970**-0.959**0.717

EC-0.0930.064
0.032-0.113-0.473-0.505
0.095

OM
0.270
0.509
-0.3670.238-0.948**-0.959**0.551

K-0.558-0.7160.625-0.5340.842*
0.816*-0.741

Cl-0.500-0.7140.589-0.4690.996**
0.984**-0.750NO30.933**
0.919**-0.936**0.930**-0.479-0.3930.909*

SO40.408
0.148-0.309
0.439
0.636
0.712
0.097

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 (2-tailed)**Ccorrelation is significant at the 0.01 (2-tailed)Nitrate is affected by human settlement, farmland and pasture creating an increase in the loadas the extension of land use increases. Woodland affects negatively the NO3 specific load due tothe high amount of absorption by trees concerning water and nutrients. Cianuro Creek was the only
water source that presented NO3. This is due to the amount of farmland, pastures and naked land
located in the watershed.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONSLake Yojoa, the only freshwater lake in Honduras, needs to be protected. The amount of pollutants
carried by the water sources has to be evaluated in order to further protect the Lake Yojoa fromeutrophication and other types of contamination.
Nitrate concentration was affected heavily by the land usage and that effect in time can easilybe the same for all of the other pollutants.
The high load of sulfate released by Cianuro Creek and Yure River presents a threat not onlyto wild life but also to humans that live near the lake.
As a recommendation, a filtering system should be prepared specifically to cover all of thepollutants carried by rivers that can be easily applied to all the water sources of the Lake Yojoa.
This system has to remove organic materials and nutrients directly from the water.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the Ministry of Education of Japan Scholarship (MEXT) for allowing me the opportunity
to study in Japan. Special thanks to AMUPROLAGO, Honduras for all the support.

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