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Assessment of hot groundwater in an arid area in Tunisia using geochemical and fuzzy logic approaches

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Abstract

In this study, thermal groundwater from arid area in southeastern Tunisia was assessed for irrigation use. For this purpose, thirty-one water samples were collected and physiochemical parameters (EC, pH, TDS, major ions) were measured and analyzed. A fuzzy logic model was developed in which six parameters were integrated: electrical conductivity, sodium adsorption ratio, sodium percentage, Kelly ratio, permeability index and temperature. The membership functions for a fuzzy logic model were developed using linguistic terms and trapezoidal shapes. The fuzzy logic model developed was validated with a dataset of chemical analyses from groundwater sampled in the study area. The assessment indicated that 26% of the samples were in the “good” class, 10% in the “good to permissible” class, 55% are in the “permissible” class, 6% are in the “permissible to harmful” class and 3% were considered to be harmful and therefore unsuitable for use in irrigation. The effectiveness, simplicity and robustness of the fuzzy model assessment make this approach a more consistent and reliable way of assessing water quality than conventional methods of assessing water quality data.

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(source Tunisian geological map 1/100,000, El Hamma Sheet)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Recherche: Hydrosciences Appliquées, Institut Supérieur des Sciences et Techniques des Eaux, University of Gabès, Gabès, Tunisia

    Belgacem Agoubi, Faiza Souid & Adel Kharroubi

  2. Department of Chemistry, Research Team “Analytical Chemistry and Environment”, Faculty of Science, University of Moulay Ismail, BP 11201, Zitoune, Meknes, Morocco

    Abdelaziz Abdallaoui

Authors
  1. Belgacem Agoubi
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  2. Faiza Souid
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  3. Adel Kharroubi
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  4. Abdelaziz Abdallaoui
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Correspondence to Belgacem Agoubi.

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Agoubi, B., Souid, F., Kharroubi, A. et al. Assessment of hot groundwater in an arid area in Tunisia using geochemical and fuzzy logic approaches. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1497 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-6296-8

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