CONTENT PARTNER: This post was produced through a local organization. The Dallas Morning News newsroom does not care about creating, editing, or setting up this content.
By UT Arlington
2:33 p. m. on September 29, 2022 CDT
This message produced through a local organization. The Dallas Morning News newsroom does not care about creating, editing, or setting up this content.
Ricardo Sánchez-MurilloTegucigalpa and surrounding areas, Hondurans wait weeks for tap water to flow.
A new study designed and co-authored by Ricardo Sanchez-Murillo, an associate professor of environmental and earth sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington, could replace it.
In a region highly vulnerable to climate variability and replacement, Honduras’ water resources are also affected by immediate population growth, increased land use, and excessive weather events. The lack of ancient hydrometeorological knowledge has limited the government’s wisdom about where, when and how the country recharges the water source.
“The availability of water is one of the most complicated publics in Honduras,” Sánchez-Murillo said. “During prolonged dry seasons, many other people have to stay to buy expensive bottled water or water imported from other basins. “
To find solutions, Sánchez-Murillo and a foreign team of researchers have spent more than 3 years tracing Tegucigalpa’s water source from typhoon to tap. They monitored precipitation at altitudes and collected precipitation samples from groundwater and surface water sources, adding springs, drilled wells, wells and streams. Using this data, they created mathematical models to perceive where water is recharged, what happens when rainwater is absorbed through aquifers as a result of typhoons.
This allowed them to produce detailed maps of water resources in the Choluteca River basin, mapping for the first time the integral geographical spaces of water recharge for the regulation, coverage and conservation of municipal water.
The team’s findings, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, show that critical spaces for recharge are ultimately through agricultural land use, deforestation and forest degradation caused by an invasive insect.
Armed with this information, Sánchez-Murillo and his colleagues translated their maps for the Honduran government and stricter urbanization and agriculture regulations to conserve water and protect important landscapes.
In his local Costa Rica, the government will pay landowners an allowance per hectare to comply with conservation practices, Sánchez-Murillo said. Such agreements help ensure consistent environmental and groundwater recharge.
By offering knowledge and recommendations to water resource managers, Sánchez-Murillo hopes to improve the quality of life of others in central Honduras.
“Right now, many other people are choosing to leave the country as part of climate-induced migration in search of solid resources,” Sanchez-Murillo said. “Together we can solve this problem, other people’s lives and provide sustainable housing. “
UT Arlington
Ricardo Sánchez-MurilloTegucigalpa and surrounding areas, Hondurans wait weeks for tap water to flow.
A new study designed and co-authored by Ricardo Sanchez-Murillo, an associate professor of environmental and earth sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington, could replace it.
In a region highly vulnerable to climate variability and replacement, Honduras’ water resources are also affected by immediate population growth, increased land use, and excessive weather events. The lack of ancient hydrometeorological knowledge has limited the government’s wisdom about where, when and how the country recharges the water source.
“The availability of water is one of the most complicated publics in Honduras,” Sánchez-Murillo said. “During prolonged dry seasons, many other people have to stay to buy expensive bottled water or water imported from other basins. “
To find solutions, Sánchez-Murillo and a foreign team of researchers have spent more than 3 years tracing Tegucigalpa’s water source from typhoon to tap. They monitored precipitation at altitudes and collected precipitation samples from groundwater and surface water sources, adding springs, drilled wells, wells and streams. Using this data, they created mathematical models to perceive where water is recharged, what happens when rainwater is absorbed through aquifers as a result of typhoons.
This allowed them to produce detailed maps of water resources in the Choluteca River basin, mapping for the first time the integral geographical spaces of water recharge for the regulation, coverage and conservation of municipal water.
The team’s findings, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, show that critical spaces for recharge are ultimately through agricultural land use, deforestation and forest degradation caused by an invasive insect.
Armed with this information, Sánchez-Murillo and his colleagues translated their maps for the Honduran government and stricter urbanization and agriculture regulations to conserve water and protect important landscapes.
In his local Costa Rica, the government will pay landowners an allowance per hectare to comply with conservation practices, Sánchez-Murillo said. Such agreements help ensure consistent environmental and groundwater recharge.
By offering knowledge and recommendations to water resource managers, Sánchez-Murillo hopes to improve the quality of life of others in central Honduras.
“Right now, many other people are choosing to leave the country as part of climate-induced migration in search of solid resources,” Sanchez-Murillo said. “Together we can solve this problem, other people’s lives and provide sustainable housing. “
Ricardo Sánchez-MurilloTegucigalpa and surrounding areas, Hondurans wait weeks for tap water to flow.
A new study designed and co-authored by Ricardo Sanchez-Murillo, an associate professor of environmental and earth sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington, could replace it.
In a region highly vulnerable to climate variability and replacement, Honduras’ water resources are also affected by immediate population growth, increased land use, and excessive weather events. The lack of ancient hydrometeorological knowledge has limited the government’s wisdom about where, when and how the country recharges the water source.
“The availability of water is one of the most complicated publics in Honduras,” Sánchez-Murillo said. “During prolonged dry seasons, many other people have to stay to buy expensive bottled water or water imported from other basins. “
To find solutions, Sánchez-Murillo and a foreign team of researchers have spent more than 3 years tracing Tegucigalpa’s water source from typhoon to tap. They monitored precipitation at altitudes and collected precipitation samples from groundwater and surface water sources, adding springs, drilled wells, wells and streams. Using this data, they created mathematical models to perceive where water is recharged, what happens when rainwater is absorbed through aquifers as a result of typhoons.
This allowed them to produce detailed maps of water resources in the Choluteca River basin, mapping for the first time the integral geographical spaces of water recharge for the regulation, coverage and conservation of municipal water.
The team’s findings, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, show that critical spaces for recharge are ultimately through agricultural land use, deforestation and forest degradation caused by an invasive insect.
Armed with this information, Sánchez-Murillo and his colleagues translated their maps for the Honduran government and stricter urbanization and agriculture regulations to conserve water and protect important landscapes.
In his local Costa Rica, the government will pay landowners an allowance per hectare to comply with conservation practices, Sánchez-Murillo said. Such agreements help ensure consistent environmental and groundwater recharge.
By offering knowledge and recommendations to water resource managers, Sánchez-Murillo hopes to improve the quality of life of others in central Honduras.
“Right now, many other people are choosing to leave the country as part of climate-induced migration in search of solid resources,” Sanchez-Murillo said. “Together we can solve this problem, other people’s lives and provide sustainable housing. “