What About the Erosion in the Coastal Algiers Watershed (Algeria)?

Abstract

Sediment transport and land erosion have specific impacts in Algeria, especially if we know that Algerian lands record the highest soil erosion levels in North Africa. Also, the direct impact of the moving sediments on storage capacities greatly reduces the regularized volumes of the latter. Thus, we studied the erosion phenomena over the coastal watershed of Algiers, which is one of the most important watersheds in Algeria due to its demographic aspect (more than 8 million inhabitants over a small area representing 0.5% of the whole area of the country) and to the important agricultural and industrial activities. The study concerns the sediment transport evaluation with a simple approach using the sediment concentration data of several hydrometric sites within and outside of the watershed in order to estimate the specific erosion or soil degradation and to map it in order to have a global idea about the zones which are most sensitive to erosion and which must have a priority in the watershed management programs. We deduce that the prone zones are in the upstream of Wadi Chiffa and Bouroumi, and along Wadi El Hachem where Boukerdane Dam is located.