Influence of urbanization and tourist activities on the water quality of the Potrero de los Funes River (San Luis – Argentina) Cesar A. Almeida & Silvya Quintar & Patricia González & Miguel A. Mallea Received: 24 October 2006 / Accepted: 22 December 2006 / Published online: 10 February 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007 Abstract A study of the water quality of the Potrero de los Funes River (San Luis – Argentina) was carried out in order to evaluate the possible effect of the anthropogenic activities on the river developed in the homonymous town. Samples were collected during the period March 2000–November 2005 at three selected sampling sites (RP 1 , RP 2 and RP 3 ). Different physicochemical and bacteriological parameters (tur- bidity, pH, conductivity, suspended solids, alkalinity, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, chlorides, nitrates, phosphates, sulphates, chemical oxygen demand (COD), 5-day biological oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), dissolved oxygen, total coliforms, Escher- ichia coli and total heterotrophic bacteria) were analysed according to the Standard Method for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. When com- paring the values of total coliforms, E. coli, total heterotrophic bacteria, COD, BOD 5 and phosphates from the zone without anthropogenic influence (RP 1 ) and the urban zones (RP 2 and RP 3 ) an important variation in the parameters was observed. These results indicate that the urban activity produces a serious and negative effect on the water quality, thus constituting a sanitary risk and may have a major impact on the trophic status of the Potrero de los Funes dam. As case study, we report on the use of General Quality Index (GQI) to evaluate spatial and seasonal changes in the water quality of Potrero de los Funes River. Results revealed a significant degrada- tion of the water quality at RP 2 and RP 3 . Keywords Water quality . Quality index . Pollution . Environmental monitoring . River Introduction The economic development, the industrialization and the urbanization, together with the demographic advance, lead to a significant growth in water con- sumption and contaminating wastage in water bodies. A great number of rivers and streams are highly contaminated due to the anthropogenic activities such as industrial and sewerage wastage (Jonnalagadda et al. 1991; Jonnalagadda and Mhere 2001; Koukal et al. 2004; Pesce and Wunderlin 2000). The problem increases when the depurating capac- ities of these aquatic systems are greatly reduced in relation to the contaminating wastage received. Thus, Environ Monit Assess (2007) 133:459–465 DOI 10.1007/s10661-006-9600-3 C. A. Almeida : S. Quintar : P. González (*) : M. A. Mallea Área de Química Analítica. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Chacabuco y Pedernera, 5700 San Luis, Argentina e-mail: spgon@unsl.edu.ar C. A. Almeida e-mail: cesarbioq@gmail.com M. A. Mallea e-mail: mmallea@unsl.edu.ar