Sedimentological study of the reservoir of the Manduriacu hydroelectric project, northern Ecuador

Resumen

The first years of operation of a project, especially of hydroelectric plants, requires the permanent monitoring of the critical parameters that determine the normal operation of the project, verifying or adjusting the conditions that have been established in the design and construction of the work. For the Manduriacu Project in Ecuador the critical parameter has been the volume of sediments that the Guayllabamba River carries and that reduces the useful volume of the reservoir. This study presents the evaluation of sedimentation of the reservoir for the spring 2016 to spring 2017, conducted with a variety of tools such as the marine drone Z-BOAT 1800 HS (USV), the dual frequency echo sounder ECHOTRAC CV100 DUAL, the Long Range Radio HYDROLINK, the equipment for reception of position data GNSS TRIMBLE R10, the Echosounder control software and eChart connections as well as the Hypack MAX device manager software and other technical support. From the comparative analysis of bathymetries before and after washing, it has been determined that the volume of sediment accumulated in the year has been of 4'899.263 m3 corresponding to 59.1% of the total volume of the reservoir.