Assessment of groundwater quality in Berrechid Aquifer, Morocco

Abstract

The aquifer of the Berrechid plain is the most important of Morocco. He sustains many activities closely linked to regional and national socio-economic development (farming, industrial). High concentrations of chlorides, nitrates, electrical conductivity in the soil, and the risks to the environment and public safety are the subject of increased interest in the Berrechid aquifer. The main objective of this study was to analyze the quality of groundwater in the region of Berrechid. This region is subject to high agricultural and industrial activity.The mapping of physicochemical parameters was realized with ArcGIS Software, Version 10.3. These distribution maps were generated by Distance Weighted Inverse interpolation (DWI). For comparison analyses, the simplified groundwater quality grid was used. The physicochemical and bacteriological characterization of the Berrechid aquifer showed high values for electrical conductivity (EC) (7100 μS/cm), Chlorides (Cl - ) (2409 mg/l), nitrates (NO 3 - ) (190 mg/l), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH 4 + ) (0.02 mg/l), organic matter (OM) (4.55 mg/l), fecal coliforms (FC) (40000 UFC/100ml). Generally, the approaches developed in this work proved to be promising for real-time and low-cost groundwater quality prediction by using physicochemical parameters.