Impact of Climate Change and Anthropic Activity on The Water Quality of Babar Dam in Algeria

Abstract

The quality of surface water has deteriorated in recent years, mainly due to climate change. The objective of this work is to assess the impact of a long drought and anthropic action on the water quality of a dam in eastern Algeria, called Babar. To achieve this objective, a study of the water composition of this dam, using the trend method was carried out. The results demonstrated that the waters have a sulfate-calcium to magnesium facies. They show also that most of the parameters follow negative trends, with the exception of K (41.56%), NO2 (5%) and NO3 (35.62%). The use of potassium fertilizers and the dumping of village waste directly into the basin of the dam without any prior treatment, leads to an increase in K. The increase in NO3 is mainly due to the contribution by fertilizers and the nitrification of the ‘ammonium (-61%) which was accompanied by the drop in dissolved oxygen levels (-7.5%). The drop-in orthophosphate content (-80%) is due to its low mobility on the first hand, and to the elimination of phosphorus on the other hand, by mechanical erosion processes from adsorption of the latter by soil colloids. This approach has shown that drought and anthropogenic action have a negative impact on the quality of surface water