Application of Nile Chemical Pollution Index to evaluate the quality of water for drinking and agricultural purposes on Bahr Yusuf Branch, River Nile, Egypt

Abstract

main source of drinking and irrigation waters for many cities. Nile Chemical Pollution Index (NCPI) was estimated to assess the quality of such waters. Water samples were collected from 6 locations along the canal in El-Minia and El-Fayoum Governorates. Seven chemical parameters were determined including dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), ammonia (NH 3 ), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), nitrate (NO 3 -) and ortho-phosphorus (PO 4 -3).Results indicated that all the tested parameters were within the permissible limits of both the Egyptian and WHO standards for drinking water and FAO standards for irrigation water. The NCPI records ranged from 13-19 indicating clean (less than 15) to slightly polluted (16-20) waters. Classification of water based on electrical conductivity illustrates that the canal water belongs to medium salinity class (C2). The total hardness concentrations were belonging to medium hard to hard category except one very hard category. The SAR estimates were excellent (S1), PI were class II category, RSC were safe/good to marginal/doubtful and Na% were good (20 -40) to permissible (40 -60), PS were classified as "excellent to good" (<5 meq/l) to "good to injurious" category (5-10 meq/l). In addition, the balance error % were less than the allowed error, KR were < 1.0. So, all the samples are acceptable, indicating their suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes.

Detection of Groundwater Quality Changes in Minia Governorate, West Nile River

“…This aquifer lies directly above the Pliocene clay. This clay acts as the impermeable layer of the aquifer (aquiclude) and the fissured Eocene limestone (Figure 2a) [38][39][40][41][42] and the hydrogeological cross-section (A-A) (East-West) in Figure 2a is shown in Figure S1 in the Supplementary Materials.…”

“…This aquifer lies directly above the Pliocene clay. This clay acts as the impermeable layer of the aquifer (aquiclude) and the fissured Eocene limestone (Figure 2a) [38][39][40][41][42] and the hydrogeological cross-section (A-A) (East-West) in Figure 2a is shown in Figure S1 in the Supplementary Materials. It is covered by sedimentary rocks that range in age from the Middle Eocene to Pleistocene; the lithology of the study area formation consists of a thick sequence of Middle Eocene fossiliferous limestone.…”

“…Plio-Pleistocene deposits constitute the earliest types of deposits laid by the Nile and form pre-Nile terraces. Pleistocene deposits are composed of massive cross-bedded fluvial sand with gravel and clay interpolate that acts as the main water-bearing formation in the study area; more about the study area lithology is discussed in [35,38,40]. Generally, this aquifer thickness decreases in the direction of the Eocene plateau and is connected hydraulically "with the underlying aquifer (Eocene) through the faults" [15,43].…”