Contribution to the reduction the saltwater intrusion phenomenon from of an appropriate pumping equipment selection

Abstract

Güira de Melena municipality is located on a coastal open aquifer, where the saltwater intrusion phenomenon is present due among other causes to the over exploitation of wells for the irrigation purposes, that’s why the aim of this paper is making a study for the appropriate selection of pumping equipment in productive organizations of this municipality that contribute to reducing saltwater intrusion phenomenon. For the study two productive entities were selected where a diagnosis was carried out that allowed to know the current situation of the pumping equipment, from the fxed hydromodule of 2,85 L s-1 ha-1 was defned for each entity the flow rate necessary and by means of the relationship beneft-cost could meet the economic effectiveness of proposals stated. As a result it was found out that with the appropriate selection of the pumping equipment flows rate to extract of the aquifer decrease between a 25 and 67 %, contributing signifcantly to attenuate the saltwater intrusion phenomenon, the power of the motors installed at the moment overcomes power needs in values that they oscillate between 1,75 and 3,40 times more, what causes bigger demand in capacity of transformers and induced appliances, increasing pumping costs from 0,67 to 1,03 $ h-1 and lastly when the pumping equipment are appropriately chosen higher relationship beneft-cost are achieved in comparison to the over dimensional equipment, improving the irrigation performance and making the activity more viable and sustainable.