Hydrodynamical Assessment of the Recent Droughts at Gallinas River in San Luis Potosí México and Its Impact on the Waterfall Tamul

Abstract

During the dry season of the years 2016–2020, the Gallinas River in San Luis Potosí State, Mexico, experienced a completeoss of its downstream flow. These events impacted the Tamul waterfall, a tourist attraction with economicosses for the region. To investigate the causes, this research focuses on identifying the flow variations in different river sections using the EFDC model under different scenarios to determine the causes of flowosses resulting in the disappearance of the waterfall. To set up the conditions, measurements of flow and speed, photogrammetry, bathymetry, and digital elevation modeling were necessary. The EFDC model was calibrated based on data acquired from measurement campaigns from 2017 to 2018. Five scenarios were established with different inflow boundary conditions: 1.5, 30, 60, and 1000 m3/s. According to the modeling results, it can be inferred that the mostikely reason for the flow variations in the river is the clandestine water extraction and the influence of the karst geomorphology of the river that would generate specific infiltrations.

Keywords

• numerical modelling
• Gallinas River
• Waterfall Tamul
• flowoss