Artificial reservoirs and lakes play a key role as

sources of water supply, recreational spaces, and support for

local economic development. A major issue is that they are often

managed in isolation, without considering the dynamics of their

contributing watersheds. Changes in land use and land cover

(LULC) pose a direct threat to water resources by altering runoff

patterns, infiltration rates, and contaminant transport.

This study analyzes LULC transformations in the Los Molinos

Reservoir basin, C´ordoba, Argentina, between 2000 and 2024.

The reservoir is a critical system for water supply, ecosystem

services, and recreational activities. Using Landsat imagery and

supervised classification with the Random Forest algorithm on

Google Earth Engine, complemented by spatial analysis in

QGIS, a significant urban expansion and notable loss of natural

vegetation were detected, especially near the shoreline.

These changes could increase the risk of diffuse pollution,

reduce water retention capacity, and degrade the reservoir’s

water quality. The results underscore the need to incorporate

multitemporal LULC analysis as a central tool for integrated

watershed management in the context advancing urbanization.