Water Quality Assessment using the Grey Clustering Analysis on a river of Taxco, Mexico

Mining projects have a constant impact on the environment.One of the environmental factors that are affected is the water.Therefore, it is important to quantify how this factor has been impacted by the extraction activity.For example, the grey clustering method is an interesting alternative for evaluating some water samples, based on a variety of parameters and using artificial intelligence criteria.As a case study, the Taxco River (Mexico), which has been affected by a wastewater leak from a local mining project, will be evaluated.The objective of this study is to determine, according to the parameters established by the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment, how the river has been impacted and how efficiently the leak has been blocked.To this end, four river monitoring points were analyzed.The results showed that monitoring points 1 and 2 have a high level of contamination, even after the leak has been blocked.On the other hand, monitoring point 3, after the leak was blocked, decreased the pollution level.While point 4 has not been affected by the leak.These results could help the company to apply some methods to purify the water in order not to affect the local population in a more centralized way.In addition, the Mexican government could use these results to control pollution caused by mining activity in the area.