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Water quality assessment and organic pollution identification of Hammam-Grouz dam (Northeastern Algeria)

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Abstract

The water quality of the Hammam-Grouz dam is deteriorating. This deterioration is due to the inputs of pollutants and nutrients from sewage discharges and the use of fertilizers in agriculture. These waters, normally stored to meet growing domestic, industrial, and agricultural needs, are also polluted, and this pollution is increasing over time. The objective of this work is to assess water quality in Hammam-Grouz dam through interpreting some organic parameters analyzed, namely, organic matter (OM), nitrates (NO3−), nitrites (NO2−), ammonium (NH4+), phosphate (PO43−), dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand for 5 days (BOD5), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The study also aims at identifying the organic pollution levels of dam waters through referring to the methods of the Organic Pollution Index (OPI) and the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (IHE) for the years 1988, 2006, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The results obtained show that the waters indicate high concentrations in NO2−, PO43−, NH4+, OM, and COD which exceed the Algerian standards recommended by the National Agency for Hydric Resources (ANRH), and the quality of waters is rather poor with an increase of concentrations recorded during 2017, indicating high organic pollution. According to OPI and IHE methods, the dam waters show an organic pollution levels which evolve from low-moderate to high-very high. Therefore, the waters are unsuitable for further use and thus require immediate intervention and measures to eliminate pollution sources and to reduce some human activities that degrade the quality of the dam waters.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are sincerely grateful to the functionary of (ANRH) public agency for their collaboration, helping us by providing sufficient documents and useful information for this study. The authors would also like to thank the scientific committee of the 1st Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (CAJG), held in Hammamet (Tunisia), in November 12–15, 2018, for the selection of this paper for submission to publication in the special issue volume of Springer: AJGS. The authors thank mostly the Editor-in-Chief, of AJGS, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive suggestions in bringing the manuscript to its present shape.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Resources and Management of Sensitive Environments Laboratory, Larbi Ben M’hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria

    Badreddine Saadali, Amira Ouddah & Yacine Kouba

  2. Department of Geology, Larbi Ben M’hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria

    Badreddine Saadali & Amira Ouddah

  3. Department of Earth and Universe Sciences, Batna 2 University, Batna, Algeria

    Abdelhamid Khedidja

  4. Territorial Sciences, Natural Resources and Environment Laboratory, Mentouri University, Constantine, Algeria

    Naouel Mihoubi

  5. Department of Earth and Universe Sciences, Larbi Tébessi University, Tebessa, Algeria

    Toufik Djebassi

  6. Department of Geography, Larbi Ben M’hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria

    Yacine Kouba

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  1. Badreddine Saadali
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  2. Abdelhamid Khedidja
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Correspondence to Badreddine Saadali.

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Saadali, B., Khedidja, A., Mihoubi, N. et al. Water quality assessment and organic pollution identification of Hammam-Grouz dam (Northeastern Algeria). Arab J Geosci 13, 1091 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-06117-9

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