Assessment of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation in the Timahdite–Almis Guigou area (Middle Atlas, Morocco)

Abstract

The groundwater in the Timahdite–Almis Guigou area flows through fluvio-lacustrine and volcanic formations of Plio-Quaternary age and Liassic limestone. The groundwater resources in this area are used for drinking water and irrigation of agricultural plots. 18 groundwater samples were collected for this study. The physico-chemical and bacteriological parameters analysed, such as temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, HCO3−, SO42−, NO2−, NO3−, faecal Coliforms, total Coliforms and faecal Streptococci, are used to characterise the quality of the groundwater and its suitability for drinking and for irrigation. The Piper and Gibbs diagrams and the saturation index were used to study the hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater. The quality of these was assessed on the basis of bacteriological quantification and water quality index (WQI) for drinking, and calculation of sodium percentage (Na%), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and permeability index (PI) for irrigation. The mineral saturation index in groundwater indicates that only carbonate minerals tend to precipitate, especially in the form of dolomite. On the other hand, the evaporative minerals are still undersaturated. The bacteriological quality and the water quality index (WQI) of this area are considered to be generally good to poor quality, with the exception of a few points, near the public dump of Almis Guigou, plateau of Lamrijate (Timahdite), Aït Hamza and Aït Ghanem, that show significant bacterial contamination and high concentrations of sodium, chlorides and nitrates. According to the calculation of the (Na%), the (SAR) and (PI), the groundwater samples are suitable for irrigation.

Groundwater assessment in endorheic basins at the transition arid-semi-arid climates in Africa- A case study of the Batha aquifer system, NE Chad

“…10). This diagram (Richards, 1954), sometimes referred to as Riverside diagram (Alsubih et al 2022;Amrani, 2022), is very helpful to enhance the analysis of SAR and EC parameters. It should be noted that the SAR classes are equivilant to those used above, but the EC classes are slightly different.…”

Geochemistry and Water Quality Assessment of Continental Intercalary Aquifer in Ouargla Region (Sahara, Algeria)

“…1). It covers an area of 20,000 km 2 , with a population reaching 297,000 in 2018. The geographical coordinates of the study area are 05°00'00"/5°45'00"E and 31°47'33'/32°30'00"N. Agriculture is the main activity in the region of Ouargla.…”

“…Journal of Ecological Engineering 2023, 24 (2), 279-294 (56.3%) and Ca-Cl (43.7%) facies. In addition, analysis of bivariate plots between chemical parameters and calculation of saturation indices of major minerals showed that mineralization of CI waters is controlled by rock-water interactions, including silicate alteration, evaporite dissolution and cation exchange.…”

Application of Geospatial and Machine Learning Algorithms for Groundwater Quality Prediction Used for Irrigation Purposes

“…They determined that spatial distribution maps of the studied area offer dependable information for policymakers in a highly sustainable manner. Amrani et al, (2022) evaluated the suitability of groundwater for drinking and irrigation in the Timahdite-Almis Guigou region of Morocco. Their findings suggested fluctuating qualities of groundwater, ranging from good to poor for drinking purposes while signifying that the groundwater was suitable for irrigation.…”