Water quality data from the Paute and Jubones river systems of Ecuador

Abstract

In Ecuador, the Paute river basin supports the generation of approximately 40% of the national electricity demand, yet studies on its ecological quality tend to be spatially or temporally limited. Moreover, the underlying raw data often remains unpublished and stored in personal or institutional databases. To counter this situation, we collected data from the Paute and Jubones river systems every three months over a two-year period (July 2023 – April 2025), amounting to a total of eight time points. The data record covers 67 unique stations and includes information on the aquatic habitat, the abiotic water quality status, the prevailing macroinvertebrate communities, and the presence of both dissolved and emitted greenhouse gases. Climate conditions varied considerably during this two-year period, as Ecuador experienced two severe droughts that affected the overall water supply and the associated energy production. Hence, the provided data can be useful for local water managers, scholars, and academics interested in the Andean headwater system under normal and exceptional circumstances.