TY - JOUR
T1 - Does irrigation with reclaimed water significantly pollute shallow aquifer with nitrate and salinity? An assay in a perurban area in North Tunisia
AU - Anane, Makram
AU - Selmi, Youssef
AU - Limam, Atef
AU - Jedidi, Naceur
AU - Jellali, Salah
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to the Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research for funding this study. They also express their thanks to the staff of “Commissariat Regional de Development Agricole de Nabeul” and “Groupement de Developpement Agricole” of Messaadi for their help in getting the used data.
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - In Tunisia, reclaimed water is increasingly used for irrigation in order to mitigate water shortage. However, few studies have addressed the effect of such practice on the environment. Thus, we attempted in this paper to assess the impact of irrigation with reclaimed water on the nitrate content and salinity in the Nabeul shallow aquifer on the basis of satellite images and data from 53 sampled wells. Ordinary and indicator kriging were used to map the spatial variability of these groundwater chemical parameters and to locate the areas where water is suitable for drinking and irrigation. The results of this study have shown that reclaimed water is not an influential factor on groundwater contamination by nitrate and salinity. Cropping density is the main factor contributing to nitrate groundwater pollution, whereas salinity pollution is affected by a conjunction of factors such as seawater interaction and lithology. The predictive maps show that nitrate content in the groundwater ranges from 9.2 to 206 mg/L while the electric conductivity ranges from 2.2 to 8.5 dS/m. The high-nitrate concentration areas underlie sites with high annual crop density, whereas salinity decreases gradually moving away from the coastline. The probability maps reveal that almost the entire study area is unsuitable for drinking with regard to nitrate and salinity levels. Appropriate measures, such as the elaboration of codes of good agricultural practices and action programs, should be undertaken in order to prevent and/or remediate the contamination of the Nabeul shallow aquifer.
AB - In Tunisia, reclaimed water is increasingly used for irrigation in order to mitigate water shortage. However, few studies have addressed the effect of such practice on the environment. Thus, we attempted in this paper to assess the impact of irrigation with reclaimed water on the nitrate content and salinity in the Nabeul shallow aquifer on the basis of satellite images and data from 53 sampled wells. Ordinary and indicator kriging were used to map the spatial variability of these groundwater chemical parameters and to locate the areas where water is suitable for drinking and irrigation. The results of this study have shown that reclaimed water is not an influential factor on groundwater contamination by nitrate and salinity. Cropping density is the main factor contributing to nitrate groundwater pollution, whereas salinity pollution is affected by a conjunction of factors such as seawater interaction and lithology. The predictive maps show that nitrate content in the groundwater ranges from 9.2 to 206 mg/L while the electric conductivity ranges from 2.2 to 8.5 dS/m. The high-nitrate concentration areas underlie sites with high annual crop density, whereas salinity decreases gradually moving away from the coastline. The probability maps reveal that almost the entire study area is unsuitable for drinking with regard to nitrate and salinity levels. Appropriate measures, such as the elaboration of codes of good agricultural practices and action programs, should be undertaken in order to prevent and/or remediate the contamination of the Nabeul shallow aquifer.
KW - Geostatistics
KW - Groundwater pollution
KW - Irrigation
KW - Reclaimed water
KW - Tunisia
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U2 - 10.1007/s10661-014-3705-x
DO - 10.1007/s10661-014-3705-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 24676992
AN - SCOPUS:84902368147
SN - 0167-6369
VL - 186
SP - 4367
EP - 4390
JO - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
JF - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
IS - 7
ER -