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1 © IWA Publishing 2016 Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
Status and trends of water quality in the Tafna catchment: a comparative study using water quality indices Abdelkader Hamlat, Azeddine Guidoum and Imen Koulala
ABSTRACT
Water quality indices (WQIs) are necessary for resolving lengthy, multi-parameter, water analysis Abdelkader Hamlat (corresponding author) Azeddine Guidoum reports into single digit scores; different WQIs have been developed worldwide which are greatly Imen Koulala Research Laboratory of Water Resources, Soil and differing in terms of mathematical structures, the numbers and types of variables included, etc. The Environment, Department of Civil Engineering, Amar Telidji University, aim of this paper is to evaluate trends of water quality in Tafna basin with a comparison of 10 WQIs Boulevard of the Martyrs, P.O. Box 37.G, perceived as the most important indices for water quality assessment. The results show that there is Laghouat 03000, Algeria an appreciable difference between indices values for the same water sample. The results also show E-mail: [email protected] that water quality categorization for sampling stations in the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment WQI and British Columbia WQI was found to be ‘marginal’ for all sampling stations, except Boughrara reservoir and Mouillah wadi where it was found to be ‘poor’. For the Aquatic Toxicity Index, it was found to be ‘Totally unsuitable for normal fish life’ for all stations and ‘suitable only for hardy fish species’ for Mouillah wadi and Boughrara reservoir. The results show that this transboundary catchment always needs strategies for more effective pollution control management. Future use of WQIs in this way should prove a valuable tool for environmental planning decision- makers in tracking water quality change. Key words | CCMEWQI, Hammam Boughrara, Mouillah wadi, Tafna catchment, transboundary, water quality indices
INTRODUCTION
Water is a dynamic renewable resource. Its availability with The problem of water quality is another factor that good quality and adequate quantity is very important for affects the availability of water resources in north-western human life and other purposes (Ibraheem et al. ). Algeria especially in the Tafna basin. Studies show that Algeria is characterized by misallocation of water resources there is a significant amount of wastewater that continues and irregular temporal distribution of water flow in wadis. to spread into the water reservoirs without treatment. Rainfall varies considerably from the west to the east of The Tafna basin is a transboundary basin between Algeria the country (450 mm annually at Oran, over 1,000 mm at and Morocco with roughly a third of its surface area located in Annaba); this longitudinal gradient is due to the effect of Morocco; the water quality of this basin is affected by both the Sierra Nevada in the south of Spain and High Atlas natural processes and anthropogenic influences. Municipal mountains of Morocco in the west that act as a screen elim- and industrial wastewater discharges from Oujda City inating the Atlantic influence on the north-west of Algeria (Morocco) and its vicinity, and dumping of waste and industrial (Djellouli ). Furthermore, in the last two decades, effluents of Tlemcen, Maghnia into wadis and streams running climate change and hydric stress have affected remarkably close to the cities are becoming major sources of basin water the availability of water in the region (Meddi & Hubert pollution (Taleb et al. ; Tidjani et al. ; Boumediene ). a, b; Hadji et al. ; Derrag & Dali ). doi: 10.2166/wrd.2016.155 Uncorrected Proof
2 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
The reporting of results to both managers and to the gen- good) and a lower score to degraded quality (bad, poor) eral public is an integral part of any environmental (Lumb et al. ). monitoring program. This poses a problem in water quality A number of comparative evaluations of the various monitoring due to the complexity associated with analyzing indices in use are available (Landwehr & Deininger ; a large number of measured variables (Canadian Council of Ott ; Gupta et al. ; Stambuk-Giljanovic ; Fer- Ministers of the Environment [CCME] ). Traditional nandez et al. ; Avvannavar et al. ; Jiménez et al. approaches to assessing water quality are based on the com- ; Beamonte Córdoba et al. ; Terrado et al. ; parison of experimentally determined parameter values with Katyal & Bharti ; Lumb et al. ; Abbasi & Abbasi existing guidelines (Debels et al. ; Boyacioglu ). ; Rekha et al. ; Sarala Thambavani & Uma Mages- This type of assessment is simple and detailed, but not wari ; Tunc Dede et al. ; Tyagi et al. , etc.). capable of providing a whole and interpreted picture of Actually, the evaluation of water quality in Algeria has water quality especially for managers and decision-makers been carried out by National Agency of Water Resources who require concise information about water bodies ‘Agence Nationale des Ressources Hydriques’ (ANRH), (Mohebbi et al. ). where the water quality has been assessed only by compar- The possible solution for this problem is to reduce the ing experimentally determined parameter values with multivariate nature of water quality data by employing a existing guidelines, the process is lengthy, complex, and dimensionless number that combines multiple water-quality labor intensive (Agence de Bassin Hydrographique Oranais factors into a single number and gives efficiently the overall Chott Chergui [ABHOCC] ). Current monitoring is tem- water quality (Miller et al. ; CCME ). porally and spatially fragmented and there is inadequate use The use of water quality indices (WQIs) was introduced of data and information generated by monitoring activities. in the 1960s as a tool to evaluate the status of water quality As a result, water quality managers are unable to provide a in rivers. Furthermore, a new WQI similar to Horton’s index comprehensive, national picture of the status and trends of was also developed by the group of Brown in 1970 (Tyagi water quality. et al. ). In 1982 Steinhart et al. applied a novel environ- The purpose of this paper is to evaluate trends of water mental quality index to sum up technical information on the quality in Tafna catchment and to compare several WQIs status and trends in the Great Lakes ecosystem (as cited in perceived as simple, basic and the most important indices Poonam et al. ). In the mid-1990s, the WQI was intro- for water quality assessment. Their mathematical structure, duced in Canada by the water quality guidelines task set of parameters, calculation, aggregation formula and group of Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment flaws have also been detailed using the same set of data, (CCME) (Sharma & Kansal ). Various indices have been with the objective of observing the performance of each formulated and developed by many researchers as tools for one in water quality assessment; a comparison has been simplifying the representation of data (Bhargava ; Smith made using 10 WQIs [Canadian Council of Ministers of ; Pesce & Wunderlin ; Cude ; Liou et al. ; the Environment Water Quality Index (CCMEWQI), Said et al. ; Boyacioglu , etc.). Most WQIs are National Sanitation Foundation WQI (NSFWQI), Dinius based on the first WQI developed by the National Sanitation WQI (DWQI), Oregon WQI (OWQI), Department of Foundation (NSF) (Said et al. ). In general, they all con- Environment WQI (DOEWQI), British Columbia WQI sider similar physical and chemical parameters but differ in (BCWQI), Universal WQI (UWQI), ISQA (the Catalan the way the parameter values are statistically integrated and water agency WQI), Overall Index of pollution (OIP) and interpreted (Nives ). A wide range of WQIs has been Aquatic Toxicity Index (ATI)]. These WQIs have been developed and applied to provide a general assessment of implemented on some wadis and reservoirs within the the river water quality status, whereas a few WQIs also con- Tafna catchment. sider specific uses (suitability for drinking water supply, The results presented in this paper are based on physico- irrigation, aquaculture, etc.; Smith ). Usually a higher chemical water quality parameters, such as temperature, score of WQI alludes to better water quality (excellent, pH, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), total Uncorrected Proof
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suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), The general rainfall regime in this catchment is similar calcium, magnesium, hardness, sodium, potassium, chlor- to semi-arid Mediterranean areas, with maxima in winter ides, sulfates, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and minima in late summer. This system is also character- biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total organic carbon ized by winter rainfall that is at least three times the (TOC), nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, ammonia, phosphate, amount that falls during the summer. Indeed, over much total phosphorus, iron, manganese, zinc, etc. of the Mediterranean summer rainfall is virtually zero (Meddi et al. ). The Tafna basin has been considered one of the main Study area and sampling sites water towers of all hydrographic regions due to its important water resources. The demand and competition for water is This study was undertaken in the Tafna basin which is high in the basin. Two-thirds of the groundwater is used located in north-western Algeria (Figure 1). for irrigation, and one-third for potable and industrial use The transboundary Tafna river basin has a total area of (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] & 7,245 km2 (5,340 km2 of the area lies in Algeria, whereas the Water Research Commission [WRC] ). rest of the area, i.e., 1,905 km2 lies in the state of Morocco). The basin’s water resources are already being exten- The Tafna basin can be divided into two zones of differ- sively exploited. Further, the projections indicate that, the ent geological nature: the upstream sector where the river available water resources will not be able to fully meet the runs in a canyon through Jurassic rocks rich in limestone water demand by 2030 (Hamlat et al. ). and dolomite; and the downstream sector where it runs in Five different sites were studied (cf. Figure 2). The first site is a tertiary basin characterized by marls covered by recent Beni Bahdel reservoir (its code is 160403), located in the wilaya alluvium (Taleb et al. ). (province) of Tlemcen at 34 W 410 49″N, 1 W 300 32″ W, it was
Figure 1 | Location of study area. Uncorrected Proof
4 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
Figure 2 | The geographical location of the studied reservoirs and wadis.
initially designed to ensure irrigation of Maghnia irrigated The fourth site is Mouillah wadi (160202), located at perimeter; it was decided later to use it to supply water to 34 W 510 3″N, 1 W 510 28″W. It’s over a length of the wilaya of Oran. 124 km, it enters in Morocco taking the name of Isly The second site is Tafna wadi (160402), located in the wadi and follows an intermittent course, it becomes per- Upper-Tafna sub-basin in the wilaya of Tlemcen at 34 W 410 manent downstream near Oujda (Morocco) where it is 38″ N, 1 W 270 48″ W. The gauging station is located at called Bounaim wadi, and penetrates Algeria near to the outlet of the basin and approximately 1,000 m Maghnia city (wilaya of Tlemcen) under the name of upstream of the inlet of the Beni Bahdel dam (Megnounif Mouillah wadi. et al. ). The wadi also receives discharges of urban ThelastsiteisHammamBoughrarareservoir and industrial wastewater from Sebdou, Aïn Ghoraba, (160520), located in Tafna catchment, and built about Azail and Beni Bahdel; some of the urban wastewater 8 km north-east of Maghnia at 34 W 520 17″ N, 1 W 380 has been discharged without any previous treatment (Bou- 52″ W. The site of this reservoir is the main outflow mediene a, b). of the Bounaim Wadi, stretching from Morocco to The third site is Sikkak reservoir (160728), located in Algeria as the Mouillah Wadi, with a catchment area Tafna catchment in the wilaya of Tlemcen at 35 W 20 36″ N, of 4,000 km2. In the whole catchment area of Mouillah 1 W 200 22″ W. The dam was constructed to help alleviate wadi, pollution spreads to finally reach Hammam the water problems of the Sikkak basin. The quality of this Boughrara reservoir which is the receiver of solid ecosystem has been degrading due to agriculture and and liquid wastes of all activities contained in the human activities (Derrag & Dali ). perimeter. Uncorrected Proof
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MATERIAL AND METHODS under consideration (‘failed variables’), relative to the total number of variables measured.
WQI F2 (Frequency) represents the percentage of individual tests that do not meet objectives (‘failed tests’).
According to Stambuk-Giljanovic (), the WQI is a math- F3 (Amplitude) represents the amount by which failed test ematical instrument used to transform large quantities of values do not meet their objectives. Water quality can water quality data into a single number; which improves be ranked as poor (0–44), marginal (45–64), fair understanding of water quality issues. This is done by inte- (65–79), good (80–94.9), or excellent (95–100), according grating relevant water quality data, to generate a score that to the CCMEWQI scale (for more details, see CCME describes water quality status and can also be used to evalu- ). ate water quality trends. There are generally four basic steps involved in the BCWQI development of WQIs. They are; (a) the selection of water quality variables; (b) transformation or the comparison of The BCWQI was developed by the Canadian Ministry of variables on a common scale through the development of Environment in 1995 as an increasing index (the index num- rating curves; (c) weighting of variables based on their bers increase with the increasing degree of pollution) to importance to overall water quality; and (d) formulating evaluate water quality. This index is similar to the and computing of the overall index (Wepener et al. ). CCMEWQI where water quality parameters are measured In this section, a detailed description of various WQIs and their violation is determined by comparison with a prede- fi fi perceived as simple, basic and the most important indices ned limit. It provides the possibility to make a classi cation for water quality assessment is presented. Their mathemat- on the basis of all existing measurement parameters. fi ical structure, set of parameters, calculation, aggregation To calculate the nal index value, the following formula and flaws have also been detailed. equation is used:
0sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi1 F 2 B 2 þ 2 þ 3 C B F1 F2 C CCMEWQI B 3 C BCWQI ¼ 100 B C (2) @ 1:453 A The CCMEWQI has been developed by the CCME; it is based primarily on the water index formula developed by the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks in the The number 1.453 was selected to give assurance to the mid-1990s, refined with inputs from the Alberta Environ- scale index number from zero to 100. It is important to note ment. The CCME recommends that a minimum of four that repeated samplings and increasing stations increase the variables sampled at least four times should be used for accuracy of the British Columbia index (Salim et al. ). index calculation. It should also be ascertained that the vari- The WQI is a number ranging from 0 to 100 divided into ables chosen provide relevant information about a particular one of five categories: excellent (0–3), good (4–17), fair site (CCME ). The CCMEWQI is calculated as follows: (18–43), borderline (44–59) and poor (60–100).
0qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi1 2 þ 2 þ 2 NSFWQI F1 F2 F3 CCMEWQI ¼ 100 @ A (1) 1:732 The NSFWQI was developed by the NSF in 1970. This WQI has been widely field tested and applied to data from a where number of different geographical areas all over the world
F1 (Scope) represents the percentage of variables that do not in order to calculate the WQI of various water bodies meet their objectives at least once during the time period (Akkoyunlu & Akiner ). The WQI is a 100-point scale Uncorrected Proof
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that summarizes results from a total of nine different par- aquatic ecosystem. The physical water quality parameters ameters. Water quality can be ranked as very bad (0–25), employed were pH, DO and turbidity while the chemical deter- bad (26–50), medium (51–70), good (71–90), or excellent minants included ammonium, total dissolved salts, fluoride, (91–100), according to the NSFWQI scale. potassium and orthophosphates, and the potentially hazardous The formula used for calculating the NSFWQI is given by: metals chosen were total zinc, manganese, chromium, copper, lead and nickel concentrations. For the ATI, the aggregation Xp techniqueemployedwastheSolwayModified Unweighted NSF WQI ¼ W I (3) i i Additive Aggregation function (Wepener et al. ). i¼1
Xn where I is the sub-index for ith water quality parameters, W is 1 1 i i ATI ¼ :( q ) 2 (5) 100 n i the weight (in terms of importance) associated with the ith i¼1 water quality parameter, and p is the number of water quality parameters. where:
qi is the quality of the ith parameter (a value between 0–100) OWQI and n is the number of determinants in the indexing system. Water quality can be ranked as totally unsuitable for The OWQI is a single number that expresses water quality normal fish life (0–50), suitable only for hardy fish species by taking eight water quality variables (temperature, DO, (51–59), or suitable for all fish life (60–100) (for more details, pH, BOD, total phosphorus, total solids, fecal coliform, see Wepener et al. ). ammonia and nitrate nitrogen) into account. The original OWQI was designed after the NSFWQI where the Delphi method was used for variable selection. Both indices used DWQI logarithmic transforms to convert water quality variable results into sub-index (SI) values. Logarithmic transforms It is a multiplicative WQI developed by Dinius ( ) for six fi take advantage of the fact that a change in magnitude at categories of water uses: public water supply, recreation, sh, fi lower levels of impairment has a greater impact than an shell sh, agriculture and industry. He employed the liberal equal change in magnitude at higher levels of impairment. use of Delphi for decision making. The index included 12 par- ameters: DO, BOD5, coliform count, Escherichia coli count, vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi u pH, alkalinity, hardness, chloride, specific conductivity, temp- ¼ u n OWQI uP (4) erature, color and nitrate. The weightage of each parameter t n 1 i¼1 2 SIi was assigned based on the evaluation of importance by the Delphi panel members. Water quality can be ranked as not – – where n is the number of sub-indices, and SI is the sub-index acceptable (0 40), doubtful (40 50), necessary treatment – fi of each parameter. becoming more expensive (50 80), minor puri cation – fi – OWQI scores that are less than 60 are considered very required (80 90), or puri cation not necessary (90 100), poor, 60–79 poor, 80–84 fair, 85–89 good, and 90–100 excel- according to the DWQI scale (Ott ). The individual SI lent (see Cude () for details). functions were combined with the help of a multiplicative aggregation function as follows ATI Xn DWQI ¼ I W (6) i i The ATI was developed by Wepener et al. ( ) to assess the i¼1 health of aquatic ecosystems. Since extensive toxicity databases are available for fishes, the toxic effects of different water qual- where Ii is the sub-index function of the pollutant parameter, ity on fishes have been employed as health indicators of the Wi is the unit weight of the pollutant parameter whose value Uncorrected Proof
7 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
ranges from 0–1andn is the number of pollutant parameters The temporary weights ranged from 1 to 4 on a basic (see Dinius () for details). scale of importance. The index is given by:
Xn OIP UWQI ¼ Wi Ii (8) i¼1 The OIP is a single number that expresses the overall water W I quality by integrating measurements of 14 different phsyico- where i is the weight for ith parameter and i is the sub- i chemical, toxicological, and bacteriological water quality index for th parameter. – parameters. It was developed by Sargaonkar et al. (2003) Water quality can be ranked as poor (0 24), marginal – – – – at the National Environmental Engineering Research Insti- (25 49), fair (50 74), good (75 94), or excellent (95 100), tute, Nagpur, India in order to assess the status of surface according to the UWQI scale (for more details, see Boyacio- waters. OIP values range from 0 to 16. A high OIP value sig- glu ). nals poor water quality, while a low value signals good water quality based on the classification scheme developed for DOEWQI India (Sargaonkar & Deshpande ; Sharma et al. ). Water quality can be ranked as heavily polluted (8–16), The DOEWQI is the WQI calculation method developed by polluted (4–8), slightly polluted (2–4), acceptable (1–2), or the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia. This excellent (0–1), according to the OIP scale (Sarkar & method has been successfully applied to measure water Abbasi ). quality for 462 rivers in Malaysia. The calculation involved The OIP is calculated as the average of each index value six water parameters which are DO, BOD, COD, ammoni- given by the following mathematical expression: cal nitrogen (AN), suspended solid (SS), and pH. The procedure of calculation consists of three steps: to identity P P the SI equation based on the value of parameters, to calcu- OIP ¼ i¼1 i (7) n late the SI of every parameter, and to calculate the WQI (Susilo & Febrina ). Water quality can be ranked as pol- where Pi ¼ pollution index for ith parameter, and luted (0–59), slightly polluted (60–80), or excellent (81–100), n ¼ number of parameters. according to the DOE scale (DOE ). The formula used for calculating the DOEWQI is UWQI described as follows:
The UWQI was developed by Boyacioglu () on the basis DOE WQI ¼ 0:22 SIDO þ 0:19 SIBOD þ 0:16 SICOD of water quality standards set by the Council of the Euro- þ 0:16 SISS þ 0:15 SIAN þ 0:12 SI pH (9) pean Communities, the Turkish water pollution control regulations and other scientific information to select 12 where SIDO ¼ Sub-index of DO, SIBOD ¼ Sub-index of water-quality parameters as the most representative for BOD, SICOD ¼ Sub-index of COD, SISS ¼ Sub-index of drinking water quality. SS, SIAN ¼ Sub-index of AN, and SIpH ¼ Sub-index of pH. To assign weights to the water-quality variables the fol- lowing factors taken into account: WQI of the Catalan water agency (ISQA) • Chemical parameters had a lower weight than microbio- logical parameters, because microbial contaminants The Simplified WQI (índice simplificado de calidad del belong to the greatest health impact category; and agua: ISQA) is currently applied by the Catalan Water • Higher weight was given to those parameters which are Agency. It is mainly a correlation of DO, TOC, SS, and con- of known health concern. ductivity, with a weight vector of 0.30, 0.25, 0.25, and 0.20, Uncorrected Proof
8 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
respectively (Ocampo Duque ). Water quality can be ranked as very poor (0–25), poor (26–50), medium (51–70), good (71–90) or excellent (91–100) according to the ISQA scale (see Terrado et al. (2006) for details).
ISQA ¼ SITemp ðÞSITOC þ SISS þ SIDO þ SICon (10)
where SITemp ¼ Sub-index Temperature, SITOC ¼ Sub-index
TOC, SISS ¼ Sub-index SS, SIDO ¼ Sub-index DO, and SICon- ¼ Sub-index Conductivity. The results presented in this paper are based on physico- chemical water quality parameters determined at five sampling sites in the Tafna basin, and the exploration of an analysis of a series of instantaneous samples performed at ANRH laboratory; measured at monthly frequency for a period of 4 years (January 2004–December 2008). The complete study was conducted in two steps. The first step was to organize and process the data into a format compatible with WQIs analysis. The second was the calculation of WQIs after processing the input data, with the purpose of facilitating the simpler calculation of indices and their comparisons. The Excel spreadsheet soft- ware program was used for the calculation of WQIs and decision-making process (cf. Figure 3). Table 1 gives an overview of the parameters determined during this study. The main sources of surface water of Tafna basin are untreated sewage of Maghnia and Tlemcen cities, waste and industrial effluents of Maghnia and Oujda (Morocco) and pollution caused by fertilizer application and processing of soil and plants especially in areas exploited in the plain of Maghnia (cf. Figure 4). Table 1 shows that ammonium concentration exceeds the guideline level at Hammam Boughrara and Mouillah Figure 3 | Flow diagram showing the steps used in this work. wadi; we note that higher concentrations occur in water pol- luted by wastewater, fertilizers and agricultural wastes or toxic algae bloom bacteria from organic wastes and seafood industrial wastes containing organic nitrogen, free ammonia contamination, where high COD levels decrease the amount or ammonium salts (Bartram & Balance ). of DO available for aquatic organisms (Committee on The values of COD and BOD appear particularly signifi- Environment & Natural Resources [CENR] ). In Mouil- cant in Sikkak and Hammam Boughrara reservoirs and lah wadi, concentrations of phosphorus exceed the Mouillah wadi as shown in Table 1. High BOD and COD guideline level. Excess phosphorus is usually considered to concentration may cause the death of some aquatic organ- be a pollutant because it can lead to eutrophication, the isms such as fish; the high levels of these parameters in latter can lower the levels of DO in the water and can water often correlate with threats to human health including render the water uninhabitable by many aquatic organisms. Uncorrected Proof
9 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
Figure 4 | Point source pollution sites in Tafna catchment (ABHOCC 2008).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION waters in the geographical area where it will be used. Results show again that ISQAWQI shows sensitivity to small A comparison of different WQIs for Tafna and Mouillah changes in water quality. wadis is shown in Figures 5 and 6, respectively; the figures The effective WQI methods in deriving the information indicate that there is an appreciable difference between from complex water quality data sets depends on various classifications given by WQIs for the same water sample. parameters, e.g. if it is important to consider low values, it The studied WQIs are greatly differing in terms of the num- is better to use the harmonic mean or its square (Cude bers and types of variables included, weightage assignments, ); the latter which is used in CCMEWQI and BCWQI mathematical structures and aggregation formulae on which is the most sensible method in a data set with low values, different indices are based (cf. Tables 2 and 3). The differ- because these take more weight than those with high ence in the WQI values is due to disparity in selecting values (cf. Table 3). Both of them are interesting cases to water quality parameters and preferred quality scales (Ott consider, because of the integration of three factors, these ; Akkoyunlu & Akiner ). factors are taken in account for the data and their relation Figure 5 shows that the values of WQI for Tafna wadi to the objectives. With this concept focusing on the objec- range from 40.62 to 60.22 and from 3.96 to 4.90 for tives, the agents must worry more about improving the CCMEWQI and OIP, respectively. environmental conditions (Fernandez et al. ). Similarly, The results show that the geographical variation in natu- NSFWQI which uses the weighted geometrical sum has ral conditions is so important that each index should evolve been widely used, especially where there is a great variabil- from, and be adapted to, the specific characteristics of ity among samples. 10 Table 1 | Descriptive statistics of water quality variables of sampling sites within Tafna Catchment 2004–2008 periods .Hamlat A.
Variables/maximum admissible value Site
Maximum al. et Water quality value H. Boughrara Beni Bahdel parameters Symbol Unit admissible reservoir reservoir Sikkak reservoir Mouillah wadi Tafna wadi | ae ult nTfabsn oprtv td sn ae ult indices quality water using study comparative a basin: Tafna in quality Water
Temp Temp W C 25 19.64 ± 5.81 18.25 ± 6.17 19.73 ± 5.97 19.5 ± 5.43 (9–28) 16.28 ± 4.52 (8–23) (5–31) (8–28) (8–31) pH pH 6.5–8.5 8.05 ± 0.43 7.89 ± 0.34 8.04 ± 0.35 7.63 ± 0.33 (7–8.2) 7.66 ± 0.35 (7–8.5) (7.2–9.1) (7.1–8.5) (7.3–8.8) Conductivity Cond μS/cm at 2,800 1,667.6 ± 320.19 635.68 ± 80.2 1,002.12 ± 2,205.96 ± 234.79 924.03 ± 203.71(298–1,240) 20 W c (977–2,750) (481–842) 130.94 (1,260–2,580) (774–1,330)
Turbidity Turb 31.72 ± 100.64 43.88 ± 136.43 17.95 ± 11.96 247.3 ± 330.24 92.2 ± 293.523(1,625–4,979) Proof Uncorrected (2–779) (3–960) (3–55) (33–2,360)
DO saturation Saturat %O2 30 74.06 ± 38.7 80.21 ± 17.36 84.43 ± 34.33 7.44 ± 14.79 81.1 ± 14.87 (52.3–126.9) (14.2–207.4) (37.6–142.7) (19.2–181.5) (0–57.4) Dissolved oxygen DO % 6.45 ± 3 (1.3–18) 8.54 ± 8.38 7.41 ± 2.57 0.67 ± 0.17 7.62 ± 1.88(0–12.8) (3.1–70.5) (1.8–14.8) (1.32–1.74) Total suspended TSS mg/l 40.97 ± 100.81 32.92 ± 52.73 25.6 ± 16.02 255.4 ± 187.14 74.91 ± 251.82(5–1,642) solids (6–771) (3–386) (6–98) (37–1,202) Total dissolved TDS mg/l 1,269.83 ± 547.48 ± 99.81 829.17 ± 108.29 1,571.68 ± 208.47 713.56 ± 160.9(340–1,060) solids 187.63 (360–900) (620–1,080) (1,000–2,060) (680–1,680) Calcium Ca mg/l 75–200 79.3 ± 14.53 44.82 ± 12.9 51 ± 17.85 86.81 ± 25.03 66.35 ± 27.6(0–120) (43–115) (21–73) (20–93) (0–132)
Magnesium Mg mg/l 150 57.75 ± 14.25 40.48 ± 12.61 52.02 ± 12.51 86.05 ± 14.69 47.05 ± 17.14 (6–81) Desalination and Reuse Water of Journal (35–109) (13–78) (18–85) (42–124) Hardness Hardness mg/l 100–500 438.88 ± 62.92 280.72 ± 50.16 344.24 ± 74.91 569.4 ± 104.96 358.65 ± 102.05 (0–537.5) (297.5– (182.5– (160–550) (0–754.17) 664.17) 466.67) Sodium Na 200 256 ± 48.56 51.6 ± 8.73 126.6 ± 27.01 325.05 ± 62.73 67.63 ± 21.08(16–101) (127–416) (32–74) (23–184) (124–575) Potassium K 18.52 ± 3.58 5.58 ± 3.08 15.03 ± 2.62 32.77 ± 5.94 5.03 ± 3.38(3–24) (10–32) (4–23) (10–21) (18–68) Chlorides Cl 250 352.43 ± 57.4 76.67 ± 16.17 155.88 ± 31.48 345.91 ± 68.93 110.69 ± 59.22 (21–452)
(213–487 (27–109) (85–235) (153–562) | npress in
Sulfates So4 mg/l 400 189.12 ± 58.18 75.18 ± 23.77 142.38 ± 39.82 214.6 ± 68.76 82.98 ± 34.04 (4–177) (47–364) (28–131) (55–217) (69–371) | 2016 (continued) 11 .Hamlat A. tal. et
Table 1 | continued | ae ult nTfabsn oprtv td sn ae ult indices quality water using study comparative a basin: Tafna in quality Water
Variables/maximum admissible value Site
Maximum Water quality value H. Boughrara Beni Bahdel parameters Symbol Unit admissible reservoir reservoir Sikkak reservoir Mouillah wadi Tafna wadi
Chemical Oxygen COD mg O2/l 30 55.9 ± 30.67 23.73 ± 15.4 36.72 ± 20.02 266.23 ± 94.93 23.26 ± 19.98(10–130) Demand (19–160) (10–90) (10–130) (20–500)
Biochemical BOD5 mg O2/l 7 11.21 ± 6.26 5.71 ± 6.38 8.65 ± 4.9 91.69 ± 41.34 5.12 ± 4.77(1.3–29) Oxygen (3.7–35.8) (1.6–47) (2.2–25) (22.4–176.5) Proof Uncorrected Demand Total organic TOC 19.33 ± 16.87 10.24 ± 5.65 14.65 ± 7.11 102.63 ± 101.11 14.03 ± 11.91(1.16–38.51) carbon (6.52–84.99) (2.83–20.16) (8.69–30.66) (25.83–309.12) Nitrate NO3 mg/l 50 7.23 ± 4.03 4.97 ± 1.97 10.78 ± 9.06 6.32 ± 4.92 (1–32) 15.03 ± 6.88 (5–34) (2–18) (1–11) (1–48)
Nitrite NO2 mg/l 0.1 1.09 ± 1.07 0.1 ± 0.07 0.46 ± 0.58 0.23 ± 0.39 (0–2.5) 0.34 ± 0.51 (0.02–3) (0.02–3.8) (0–0.34) (0.02–2.8) þ Ammonium NH4 mg/l 0.5 5.43 ± 7.72 0.1 ± 0.12 1.29 ± 2.37 59.11 ± 20.5 0.26 ± 0.5(0–2.78) (0.03–57) (0–0.68) (0.01–13.4) (4.4–119)
Ammonia NH3 5.12 ± 7.29 0.09 ± 0.11 1.22 ± 2.24 54.84 ± 20.54 0.24 ± 0.47 (0–2.62) (0.03–53.81) (0–0.64) (0.01–12.65) (0–112.34) Phosphate PO4 mg/l 10 3.3 ± 1.51 0.09 ± 0.08 0.81 ± 1 27.22 ± 6.66 0.52 ± 0.63(0–2.8) ora fWtrRueadDesalination and Reuse Water of Journal (0.66–6.63) (0–0.43) (0.01–4.4) (7.45–41.27) Total phosphorus Ptot 4.03 ± 1.71 0.24 ± 0.15 1.29 ± 1.37 33.65 ± 7.56 0.74 ± 0.76(0.02–3.45) (0.88–7.5) (0.02–0.73) (0.05–5.35) (9.52–45.58) Iron Fe mg/l 1 0.07 ± 0.04 0.11 ± 0.13 0.11 ± 0.08 0.37 ± 0.17 0.22 ± 0.22(0.07–0.47) (0–0.13) (0–0.5) (0.01–0.27) (0.14–0.64) Manganese Mn mg/l 1 0.21 ± 0.15 0.05 ± 0.04 0.09 ± 0.1 0.2 ± 0.11 0.06 ± 0.02 (0.04–0.08) (0.05–0.49) (0–0.14) (0.01–0.37) (0.11–0.47) Zinc Zn mg/l 5 0.06 ± 0.05 0.06 ± 0.06 0.08 ± 0.07 0.12 ± 0.11 0.1 ± 0.07 (0.02–0.15) (0–0.15) (0.02–0.17) (0–0.2) (0.05–0.43) | npress in | 2016 Uncorrected Proof
12 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
Table 2 | Types of sub-indices, aggregation functions and flaws of studied WQIs (collected from several different sources)
Index Sub-indices Aggregation functions Flaws
NSFWQI Implicit Weighted sum Eclipsing non-linear region OWQI Non-linear Unweighted Harmonic Square Mean DWQI Non-linear Weighted sum Eclipsing region OIP Segmented Weighted sum Linear ATI Solway modified unweighted ISQA Weighted sum DOEWQI Formula Weighted average UWQI Weighted sum Figure 5 | Trend of water quality in Tafna wadi. CCMEWQI Formula Harmonic Square Sum BCWQI Formula Harmonic Square Sum
the water quality categorization for all sampling stations was ‘totally unsuitable for normal fish life’ and ‘suitable only for hardy fish species’ for Mouillah wadi and Bough- rara reservoir. We should note here that large amounts of fish were found dead in Tafna wadi near Aïn Ghoraba (30 km south of Tlemcen) due to pollution by wastewater and industrial waste discharged from Sebdou city into the wadi (Boumediene a, b). Even now, water quality of this wadi continues to deteriorate. In the OIP, the water quality categorization for sampling stations was found as ‘heavily polluted’ for Mouillah wadi stations, and ‘polluted’ for the rest. It was found as ‘poor’
Figure 6 | Trend of water quality in Mouillah wadi. for all stations in the UWQI. Figure 7 shows a comparison of WQIs in the studied sites within Tafna catchment, we note that OIP scale is Table 4 shows that the water quality categorization for adjusted from 0–16 to 0–100 for comparison purposes. The sampling stations in CCMEWQI and BCWQI was found Tafna basin is at risk of pollution of its surface water as ‘marginal’ for Beni Bahdel reservoir, Sikkak reservoir resources (Mouillah wadi, Tafna wadi, Sikkak wadi) gener- and Tafna wadi; and ‘poor’ for Hammam Boughrara reser- ated in large part by discharges from industrial areas in voir and Mouillah wadi. For OWQI, the water quality Maghnia and Tlemcen cities as well as Morocco’s dis- categorization was found as ‘very poor’ for all sampling charges; this situation is causing a degradation of water stations. The results of the ATI give an idea about the suit- quality of reservoirs such as Hammam Boughrara and ability of water quality for aquatic life; it was found that Sikkak. 13 .Hamlat A. tal. et | ae ult nTfabsn oprtv td sn ae ult indices quality water using study comparative a basin: Tafna in quality Water Table 3 | Importance rate and parameters weight of the studied WQIs
NSF DWQI DOEWQI UWQI ISQA CCME OIP BC ATI OWQI pH 0.12 0.077 0.16 0.029 all variables the model all variables the model eliminates Temperature 0.11 0.077 are given does not are given does not the use of the same include the same include weight DO 0.18 0.109 0.22 0.114 0.30 weight any weight weight any weight factors BOD 0.12 0.097 0.19 0.057 factors factors norce Proof Uncorrected Turbidity 0.09 Phosphate 0.11 Nitrate 0.10 0.09 0.086 Coliform total 0.17 0.09 0.114 Hardness 0.065 Chloride 0.074 Sp. Conductance 0.079 0.20 COD 0.16 SS 0.15 0.25
NH3-N 0.12 F 0.086 TP 0.057 Desalination and Reuse Water of Journal Hg 0.086 Se 0.086 Cyanide 0.086 Cd 0.086 As 0.113 TOC 0.30 | npress in | 2016 Uncorrected Proof
14 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
Table 4 | Comparison of WQIs results
Beni Bahdel H. Boughrara Sikkak Mouillah wadi Tafna wadi
WQIs WQI Quality WQI Quality WQI Quality WQI Quality WQI Quality
NSFWQI 43.97 Bad 30.61 Bad 34.96 Bad 21.24 VB 34.16 Bad OWQI 16.54 VP 14.03 VP 15.29 VP 12.21 VP 17.16 VP DWQI 13.97 NA 12.4 NA 13.01 NA 11.17 NA 13.18 NA OIP 4.16 Polluted 6 Polluted 4.67 Polluted 13.98 HP 4.52 Polluted ATI 30.83 TUNFL 51.57 SHFS 41.56 TUNFL 56 SHFS 39.34 TUNFL ISQA 63.5 Medium 51.88 Medium 63.13 Medium 48.41 poor 64.73 Medium DOEWQI 53.94 Polluted 45.26 Polluted 50.19 Polluted 19 Polluted 52.68 Polluted UWQI 24.22 Poor 16.74 Poor 17.23 Poor 10.4 Poor 17.87 Poor CCMEWQI 54.2 Marginal 31.03 Poor 44.85 Marginal 21.61 Poor 47.4 Marginal BCWQI 46.5 Borderline 73.92 Poor 58.06 Borderline 83.31 Poor 59.25 Borderline
TUNFL ¼ totally unsuitable for normal fish life; SHFS ¼ suitable only for hardy fish species; VB ¼ Very Bad; VP ¼ Very Poor; NA ¼ Not Acceptable; HP ¼ Heavily Polluted.
Figure 7 | Summarized results of all applied WQI models.
The identification and location of domestic and indus- There are 57 discharge points remaining, as 80% are not trial waste discharges, allowed the detection of 71 being easily connected; however, the nearest of them from discharge points, 14 of which are currently connected to a the WWTP, requires the installation of a waste water pump- WWTP with a flow rate of over 31,000 m3/d (cf. Table 5). ing station (ABHOCC ). Uncorrected Proof
15 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
Table 5 | Identification and location of domestic and industrial waste discharges within Tafna catchment
Number of Number of discharge Name of Name of cities discharge points connected to Type of water Wastewater flow Point of city connected to WWTP points WWTP discharge x (m) y (m) rate (m3/d) release
Tlemcen Tlemcen; 48 10 Domestic/ 13,3033 183,861 30,550.176 Sikkak Chetouane industrial wadi Maghnia Maghnia 14 2 Domestic/ 95,884 181,488 37.224 Ouderfou industrial wadi Sidi Sidi Snoussi 9 2 Domestic 15,2756 199,662 414.72 Snoussi Abdelli wadi Total 71 14 31,002.12
Industrial releases of Tlemcen city are located at three operation and the second priority being given to the discharge points, including one connected to the wastewater cities located upstream of dams under construction. treatment plant (WWTP) of Ain El Houtz. As for industrial • Renovating the existing WWTPs and increasing the treat- releases of Maghnia city, they have been released into the ment capacity of industrial and domestic wastewater, natural environment except the dairy ‘Halib Ennedjah’ giving priority to the removal of phosphorus and which is connected to Maghnia WWTP. nitrogen. • The current form of sewerage system and scattered aspect of Tlemcen requires rigorous management for collection The pollution control strategy for Tafna catchment of waste and implementation of new treatment systems. Three operating WWTPs located at the department of The water quality in Tafna catchment was bad. Studies show Tlemcen receive more than 31,000 m3/d of domestic that there is a significant amount of wastewater that con- and industrial waste (cf. Table 5). These stations have tinues to spill into the wild without treatment, while the been designed for the treatment of urban wastewater, so WWTPs have sufficient capacity to provide treatment. the quality control of industrial waste is essential. Remedial proposals of studies already carried out in the Although some industrial units have a sewage system, it field of water quality in Algeria, have excessive costs, and is still necessary and even urgent to establish a network cannot be used because they do not eliminate the causes of quality monitoring of industrial wastewater. of pollution. The Tafna catchment should be the subject of • Better management of fertilizer and manure. an assessment and periodical surveillance, to ensure sustain- • Protective agricultural practices such as the planting of able and equitable management; the pollution control vegetative buffer strips between cropland and wadis. strategy includes a combination of more than one pol- • Expanded levels of treatment of residential stormwater lution-reducing method. Methods could include: through the use of best management practices. • The removal of direct point-source discharges from wadis. It is clear that the construction of WWTPs is not suf- • Protecting the source water of the upstream Tafna wadi ficient to solve the pollution problem if not accompanied and Mouillah wadi (particularly from pollution from by close monitoring and supervision of surface water qual- new, private rural industries) in order to guarantee the ity and groundwater. There is a monitoring network water quality for the new water supply intake and to operated by the ANRH, but it remains insufficient, avoid future pollution. especially with regard to the monitoring network for • The priority criteria for the realization of WWTP being groundwater that does not obey all the conditions for a primarily granted to cities located upstream of dams in good network. Uncorrected Proof
16 A. Hamlat et al. | Water quality in Tafna basin: a comparative study using water quality indices Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination | in press | 2016
To reduce the scope of the limiting factor of water users, suppliers, and planners, etc. (Damo & Icka ). resources in the region an approach is feasible for waters Similarly, NSFWQI which uses the weighted geometrical affected by anthropogenic pollution. The healing of earlier sum has been widely used, especially where there is a proposals is exorbitantly expensive, and cannot be retained great variability among samples. to the extent where they eliminate the causes of pollution. The results show that WQIs can vary from one region to Moreover, for governments, setting up of treatment units another depending on local conditions and concerns. The at the exit boreholes and reservoirs, is an investment in an development of a WQI corresponding with different con- unsustainable strategy. To solve the problem of sanitation, ditions and characteristics of the relevant river or water it is necessary to prevent pollution from spreading by treat- body, such as geographical, hydrological, discharge rate ing the output of sewage or industrial complexes, and pollution sources, is necessary to represent the real increasing political connection to the sewerage system, water quality state and is very helpful for environmental and establishing WWTP and lagoons. planners to design, formulate, and implement pollution The hydrological Tafna basin shared between Morocco abatement strategies. and Algeria is extensively stressed and impacted not only by the aridity of the climate, but also by anthropogenic activities. These impacts are felt on both sides the border, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS but no action has so far been undertaken. This vulnerable zone represents an example of the politics of silence and The authors would like to thank the staff of Hydrographic non-cooperation (Zarhloule et al. ). Basin Agency of Oranie Chott Chergui and National Water Resources Agency for their assistance in providing facilities for the completion of this study. CONCLUSIONS
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First received 12 September 2015; accepted in revised form 22 February 2016. Available online 30 March 2016