Resumen en inglés

The constant pressures to which the water resource is subjected result in the loss of its natural state in terms of decreased water quality and assimilation capacity, and water quality models are tools that can facilitate the study and understanding of these processes in order to create strategies for the management, prevention and mitigation of negative impacts on the resource. The objective of this research was to evaluate the Sinú River assimilation capacity and, at the same time, analyze the effect that wastewater discharges have on said capacity; for this, monitoring of quality parameters (temperature, COD, DO, TN, ammonia nitrogen, phosphates and TSS) were carried out in the river at different seasons and a numerical model was adapted to the study area whose hydrodynamic component is based on the equations of turbulent motion and the quality component on the Advection-Diffusion-Reaction equations. After calibrating and validating the model, scenarios of increase and decrease of discharge concentrations and flows, and river flows were simulated. From the simulations, the river assimilation capacity was evaluated regarding the behavior and dynamics of the discharged pollutants.