Assessment of the impact of Imzouren city’s WWTP on the quality of the surrounding groundwater, at the Rif Central (Northern Morocco)

Said Benyoussef,Maryam Azirar,Yassine El Yousfi,Mourad Arabi,Ali Ait Boughrous,Hossain El Ouarghi,M Arabi,D Kouotou,H Mahjoub,H Bouziane,M El Jarroudi,A Didi,N Slimani Alaoui,K Jaafar,N Nouayti,H Amhamdi,K Kassmi

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202124001008

Said Benyoussef, Maryam Azirar + Show 15 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202124001008

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Abstract

The groundwater of the Ghis-Nekor aquifer (Central Rif of Morocco) is the main water resource used by the inhabitants for agricultural and domestic purposes. However, its low quality may affect the health of the consumer and weaken agricultural production. The existence of the WWTP at the level of this plain, makes it a probable source of pollution for these groundwater and requires urgent water managers’ intervention. Groundwater pollution in this area may be related to natural, anthropogenic and undefined sources (agricultural and industrial activities). To assess the impact of WWTP effluent on this aquifer, ten well water samples were collected upstream and downstream of this WWTP in 2018, and then analysed for physicochemical quality. Multivariate and principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the results obtained revealed two main components, in which the largest source of total variation being F1 presented at 54.75%. The PCA has visualized two groups that distinguish slightly mineralized well waters upstream to moderately from other wells downstream of the WTTP that are highly mineralized. Generally, the groundwater in the study area is characterized by high levels of salinization. The results of this study may be useful for monitoring and managing groundwater pollution in the study area.

Highlights

The population continues to grow in developing countries, giving rise to megacities with considerable water needs, considerable wastewater flows and considerable environmental problems
The results concluded that the pollution of the wells studied increases from upstream to downstream of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), which could be explained by the impact of the infiltration of wastewater from the natural lagoon treatment plant, waste and discharges from small industrial units located in the study area
These waters are characterized by salinization phenomena. This is confirmed by the monitoring of electrical conductivity which has shown that groundwater is well mineralized

Summary

Introduction

The population continues to grow in developing countries, giving rise to megacities with considerable water needs, considerable wastewater flows and considerable environmental problems. The management and monitoring of water resources must become a priority for these countries [1]. Some previous studies have extensively studied the assessment and impact of treated wastewater on groundwater and irrigation water [2,3,4,5,6] suggesting that treated wastewater or untreated wastewater, could be a source of groundwater pollution resulting in increased health and environmental risks. Water pressure and the intensive exploitation of groundwater for different agricultural, industrial and domestic uses, as well as the discharge of wastewater into rivers and their leaching could have negative impacts on the quality of groundwater and reduce their potential for use [8,9,10,11,12]. To measure the levels of contamination of the water surrounding the WWTP, we started an impact study of the station through the physicochemical analysis carried out on a set of wells upstream and downstream of the WWTP

Methods

Results

Conclusion