Objective.

To carry out an analysis of the hydrobiological communities of macroinvertebrates of the discharge flows of El Quimbo hydroelectric plant, Huila, Colombia.

Scope.

To make a contribution to knowledge about the aquatic macroinvertebrate species in the upper basin of the Magdalena river.

Methodology.

Aquatic invertebrates were collected at six sampling stations using Surber traps at 10 sites along a 100 m linear transect.

Main results.

A total of 36,490 specimens belonging to 11 classes, 26 orders, 79 families and 168 taxa were collected. The class Insecta presented the highest values with nine orders (34.62%), 55 families (69.62%) and 137 taxa (81.55%). The assessment of the water quality in the study area showed that all the stations have good waters quality for the BMWP index, and all the stations have questionable water quality for the ASPT index. The analysis of similarity between the sampling stations found great similarity between all the sampling stations, except MGE4, possibly due to the influence of the treated wastewater that falls into the river a few meters upstream.

Conclusions.

This document makes a significant contribution to the knowledge of the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities for the study area. However, it is known, that the different phases of the hydroelectric project affect these communities in different degrees, which will be the subject in future studies.

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