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Evolution of groundwater quality in intensive agricultural zone: case of Chtouka-Massa Aquifer, Morocco

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Abstract

The Chtouka-Massa area in Southern Morocco has shown an increase in water scarcity during the last decades, caused mainly by withdrawal of water resources aggravated by agricultural intensification and climate change impacts. To better understand the changes of groundwater quality, a sampling campaign was conducted in many wells during March 2015 and compared to historical chemical data from the hydraulic basin agency, as well as previous studies performed at Ibn Zohr University. All data were used to assess the spatial-temporal evolution of nitrate and salinity relevant to the recent sampling. This paper describes the current state of groundwater quality in the Chtouka-Massa zone with an overview of different sources of water mineralization and the nitrate evolution in an agricultural area. Our results indicate a general increase in mineralization from the north to the south, and from the east to the west. The plain, dominated by farms, shows a relatively high conductivity (up to 2000 μS/cm), while in both costal area and Anti-Atlas Mountain the water salinity shows a gradient increase from the north to the south. However, the highest electrical conductivity is observed along the Massa River. The water type is bicarbonate, chloride, and sodium for farm samples, while from the other parts, it is mostly dominated by chloride and sodium. The spatial-temporal analysis of nitrates generally shows an increasing trend. However, the levels remain overall lower than the limit. The temporal evolution of control points set by the hydraulic agency shows a decreasing trend decline that can be explained by the improvement of agriculture practices, including the conversion towards drip irrigation mode. Different chemical tracers highlighted some processes involving the changes of mineralization of groundwater (e.g., irrigation water return, marine intrusion, and water/rock interaction). The results will be used to improve water management in this area showing water quality degradation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Hydraulic Basin Agency of Souss-Massa-Draa for their support and cooperation in providing all necessary data. Our gratitude to the University of Bonn, Germany, for their contribution to the sampling campaign and chemical analysis. We also thank the project GLOBAQUA and WASA for the financial support of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Geology and Geo-Environment Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, BP8106, Agadir, Morocco

    Malki Mouna, Bouchaou Lhoussaine & Ait Brahim Yassine

  2. Salinity and Plant Nutrition Laboratory, Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, BP773, Agadir, Morocco

    Choukr-Allah Redouane & Hirich Abdelaziz

  3. International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE

    Choukr-Allah Redouane & Hirich Abdelaziz

  4. Laboratory of the Steinmann-Institute University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Barbara Reichert

Authors
  1. Malki Mouna
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  2. Choukr-Allah Redouane
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  3. Bouchaou Lhoussaine
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  4. Ait Brahim Yassine
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  5. Hirich Abdelaziz
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  6. Barbara Reichert
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Correspondence to Malki Mouna.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Water Resources in Arid Areas

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Mouna, M., Redouane, CA., Lhoussaine, B. et al. Evolution of groundwater quality in intensive agricultural zone: case of Chtouka-Massa Aquifer, Morocco. Arab J Geosci 9, 566 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2592-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2592-6

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