Introduction:

The Bogotá River is one of the most polluted rivers in the world due, to a great extent, to the direct dumping of domestic and industrial wastewater without any treatment throughout the municipalities that it crosses, including Bogotá D.C.

Objective:

To determine the effect of anthropic activities developed in the municipality of Villapinzón, Colombia, on the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of the Bogotá River.

Materials and methods:

26 physicochemical and 4 microbiological variables were measured in nine stations of the upper course of the Bogotá River. The chemical variables included chromium, lead and mercury, and the microbiological variables Escherichia Coli, total coliforms, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomona aeruginosa.

Results:

In all stations, microbiological variables presented values above the healthy level. The concentration of total chromium in the area of influence of tanneries exceeds the maximum level allowed before causing an adverse effect on human health.

Conclusions:

A progressive deterioration of water quality in the Bogotá River was observed, which is caused by anthropic activities carried out in Villapinzón. Probably, this situation is the cause of the high prevalence of infectious and parasitic diseases of the digestive system in children under 5 years of age.

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