Abstract
The Mitidja plain is situated in the North Algerian. It extends over an area of about 1450 km2. It consists of two aquifers that are the main source of drinking water for several cities around the plain, and they are also used for the irrigation of the plain. The upper consists of fine grained (clay) and coarse grained (gravel and sand) sediments and it is alluvial, coastal and unconfined aquifer. The low confined aquifer of Astian (Upper Pliocene) is constituted mainly by limestone and sandstone with a continental origin. The analysis of the potentiometric maps of the alluvial aquifer shows a remarkable decrease of potentiometric levels between the seventies years and the last decades, at more than 20 m in some places. This is explained by the long drought period and the increase of the number of drilling and wells in this aquifer, and it should be noted that some wells recorded potentiometric levels below sea level, thus reflecting an inversion of groundwater flow, from the sea to the inside of aquifer, which has favored the advancement of seawater intrusion in the sector of Mitidja west at more than 2 km. The urban and industrial effluents, which are discharged into the receiving environment without appropriate treatment, added to the agricultural pesticides and fertilizers used in this plain, and the seawater intrusion constitute the main source of groundwater quality degradation in the most part of the plain.
Published Version
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