Geochemistry and Water Quality Assessment of Continental Intercalary Aquifer in Ouargla Region (Sahara, Algeria)
			
	
 
More details
Hide details
	
	
									
				1
				Sahara Geology Laboratory, Department of Earth and Universe Sciences, University of Ouargla, BP 511, Ouargla 30,000, Algeria
				 
			 
						
				2
				Laboratory of Underground Reservoirs, Oil, Gas and Aquifers, University of Kasdi Merbah Ouargla, 30000 Algeria
				 
			 
						
				3
				National Agency for Hydraulic Resources (ANRH). Ouargla, Algeria
				 
			 
										
				
				
		
		 
			
			
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
							
										    		
    			 
    			
    				    					Corresponding author
    					    				    				
    					Bouselsal  Boualem   
    					Laboratory of Underground Reservoirs, Oil, Gas and Aquifers, University of Kasdi Merbah Ouargla, 30000 Algeria
    				
 
    			
				 
    			 
    		 		
			
																						 
		
	 
		
 
 
J. Ecol. Eng. 2023; 24(2):279-294
		
 
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Groundwater is vital for all living beings and the socio-economic development of arid regions. The present study evaluated the pertinence of groundwater of the continental intercalary (CI) aquifer in the Ouargla region for domestic and agricultural purposes. Sixteen (16) water samples were collected and analyzed for physical parameters, major cations and anions. The appreciation of groundwater potability was compared with the WHO (2017) standards. Agricultural water quality was evaluated using the Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI) method and the study of irrigation parameters: EC, SAR, SSP, PI, KR, PS and MAR. The results show that the CI waters are dominated by mixed Ca-Mg-Cl type (56.3%) and Ca-Cl type (43.7%). Natural rock-water interactions, including silicate weathering, evaporite dissolution and cation exchange, were the dominant processes controlling the mineralization of CI waters. According to WHO (2017), EC (100%), T (100%), TDS (100%), Na+ (87.5%), K+ (100%), Ca2+ (12.5%), Mg2+ (18.75%), SO42- (100%), and TH (100%), samples exceed the permissible limit, indicating that most of the groundwater samples do not have good quality for drinking purposes. The calculated IWQI showed that 31.25% of the water samples were in the good category and 68.75% in the doubtful category.