The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park, considering the current levels of population growth on the islands and concerned about the problems of water shortages that have occurred in urban and rural areas in recent years,  considers it a priority to plan and control the use of water resources.

Good management of the water resources of the Galapagos is essential not only for human development, but to preserve the integrity of natural ecosystems.

With strict studies and monitoring of water quality in collaboration with other local, national, and international institutions, the DGNP seeks to minimize the risk of contamination and misuse of fresh water available to the local population.

With the consultancy of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park began a project in 2005 to know about the status of water quality on Santa Cruz Island and then from 2007 on Isabela and San Cristóbal Islands.

"	Good management of the water resources of the Galapagos is essential not only for human development, but to preserve the integrity of natural ecosystems."

Currently, quarterly monitoring is still continued in the permanent sites established for collecting samples and for clinical analyses.

To determine the contamination levels, the 2003 Technical Standard on Environmental Quality and Effluent Discharge of the Water Resource Standard was taken as a basis, developed with the support of the Environmental Management Law for the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution, which regulates activities that could be sources of contamination in the water resources and is currently valid in Ecuador.

Under this standard, a large number of parameters are established (amount of oil and grease, fecal coliform bacteria, detergents, mercury, lead, hydrogen potential, among others) to determine water quality, with which the possible contaminants that could exist in the water due to the effects of human activities that must be below the Maximum Permissible Limit (MPL) are addressed.

Santa Cruz Island

For water monitoring in Santa Cruz Island, water samples are taken for monitoring from terrestrial sites and also from coastal sites for physical, chemical, and biological analysis.

In the monitoring of terrestrial sites, most of the places where water is drawn from for the town of Puerto Ayora (the "El INGALA" Crevice), and Bellavista and Santa Rosa Parishes are free of contamination.

However a high content of fecal coliform bacteria was found in the "Colegio San Francisco" Crevice from where 27% of the water in Puerto Ayora is extracted.

In the coastal sites that were monitored, the laboratory results are more worrying. The results of oils and fats, and mercury were above the MPL in some of the monitored sites. A high amount of phenols and mercury was also detected. Most notable was the very high fecal coliform contamination that "Laguna de las Ninfas" presents, a place used as a recreational site by local people, as well as national and foreign tourists.

San Cristobal Island

The cited study indicates that there are no problems of water supply coverage in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, because 100% of the urban area is served by the distribution network and the periurban part is supplied by tankers.

However, the results obtained in the laboratory from the analysis of fecal coliforms indicate that the water in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno does not meet the established parameters of quality established for human consumption.

Indeed, unlike the samples from the Municipal water treatment plant, which is where water is collected from sources in the high part of the island before being distributed to the island's population, the water in some houses of Puerto Baquerizo have a high level of contamination.

This demonstrates that there is no disinfection treatment and that instead of reducing, the coliform level has increased, threatening the health of the population. The results also show levels of residual chlorine that are too low to have any disinfectant effect.

Isabela Island

Water for human consumption is obtained from beneath the ground through crevices. It is characterized by being fresh on the surface, because it originates from the rainfall that penetrates and discharges into the sea; a few meters deep it is brackish; and beyond that it is saline.

In the monitoring results, concentrations of nutrients such as nitrites and nitrates are not high and the total phosphorus value was not high, which allows us to determine that water from Isabela Island does not have an excessive amount of nutrients.

However, in the samples taken in "El Manzanillo", where the Provincial Council draws water for distribution in tankers to the inhabitants of the upper and urban areas of this Canton and in the samples taken directly from the tap in several houses in Puerto Villamil, analysis of fecal coliforms gave positive results.

For the other monitoring sites such as "Poza Salinas", a tourist site of ecological importance because it is the habitat of species that are endemic and native to the area, no contamination parameters were found.

Annual report of water quality monitoring  (DGNP/JICA)

Informe Anual 2005: Santa Cruz (PDF, 488 Kb)
Informe Anual 2005: Santa Cruz (Zona Costera Bahía Academia) (PDF, 500 Kb)

Informe Anual 2006: Isla Santa Cruz (PDF, 628 Kb)
Informe Anual 2006: Isla Santa Cruz (Zona Costera Bahía Academia) (PDF, 352 Kb)

Informe Anual 2007: Isla Santa Cruz (PDF, 4.0 Mb)
Informe Anual 2007: Isla Santa Cruz (Zona Costera Bahía Academia) (PDF, 2.8 Mb)
Informe Anual 2007: Isla San Cristóbal (PDF, 3.3 Mb)
Informe Anual 2007: Isla Isabela (PDF, 3.0 Mb)

Informe Anual 2008: Isla Santa Cruz (PDF, 4.0 Mb)
Informe Anual 2008: Isla Santa Cruz (Zona Costera Bahía Academia) (PDF, 2.8 Mb)
Informe Anual 2008: Isla San Cristóbal (PDF, 4.3 Mb)
Informe Anual 2008: Isla Isabela (PDF, 3.3 Mb)

This program has counted on the support of:

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)