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Temporal and spatial assessment of groundwater contamination with nitrate using nitrate pollution index (NPI), groundwater pollution index (GPI), and GIS (case study: Essaouira basin, Morocco)

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Abstract

Groundwater aquifers in Morocco’s coastal regions are under serious threat as a result of climate change. This study was conducted to evaluate and map the quality of water resources, by evaluating the level of pollution of the groundwater in the Meskala-Ouazzi sub-basin, a coastal area of Essaouira based on the physico-chemical analysis of 58 samples using a geographic information system (GIS) technique, analytical analysis, nitrate pollution index (NPI), and groundwater pollution index (GPI). The diagram piper of the study area is dominated by Cl-Ca-Mg, Cl-Na, HCO3-Ca-Mg, and SO4-Ca types. The concentrations of nitrate ranged from 2 to 175 mg/L. It was discovered that 22% of the groundwater samples had nitrate amounts greater than the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum allowable level of 50 mg/L. The NPI ranged between − 0.9 and 7.8. According to the classification of NPI, 44.8% of the total groundwater samples represent clean water, indicating that the groundwater in the study area is suitable for irrigation. GPI values ranging from 0.6 to 3.7, with an average of 1.7, identifies 37.9% of all groundwater samples as low polluted. The inverse distance weighting (IDW) approach was used to generate a spatial distribution map, which indicates that appropriate groundwater is present in the sub-upstream basin’s part. Overall, the forte concentration in groundwater samples detected in western and central areas showed that the nitrate originated from large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer used by humans in agricultural activities during periods of irrigation. The low tritium (δ3H) content shows that the aquifer recharge is stale water and excessive use of fertilizers leads to groundwater pollution faster over time.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the editor-in-chief Dr. Philippe Garrigues, editor Dr. Xianliang Yiand, and the reviewers for their critical reviews and valuable suggestions. Special thanks go to people from the National Office of drinking water (ONEE) at the Essaouira city for their assistance; we thank The Pr. EBN TOUHAMI Mohamed dean of the Faculty of Sciences of Kenitra, for his assistance during the chemical analyses of K and Na of the campaign 2019. The authors are grateful to our colleagues for their assistance in data collection and field investigation. I dedicate this article to my father who passed away the past two months Mr. Abdellatif el Mountassir who for many years sacrificed everything he had to help me move forward in my scientific research and in life. May God grant this work to bear fruit. I thank him for all the noble values, education, and support that came from him.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. High Energy and Astrophysics Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco

    Otman El Mountassir & Mohammed Bahir

  2. Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), IWRI, Ben Guerir, Morocco

    Mohammed Bahir & Abdelghani Chehbouni

  3. Mohammadia School of Engineers, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco

    Driss Ouazar

  4. CESBIO, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, IRD, BPI 280, 31065 CEDEX 9, Toulouse, France

    Abdelghani Chehbouni

  5. Centro de Ciéncias E Tecnologias Nucleares, Universidade de Lisboa, C2TN/IST, Lisbon, Portugal

    Paula M. Carreira

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Contributions

Conceptualization: O.E.M., M.B.; methodology: O.E.M; software, O.E.M.; validation: O.E.M., M.B., A.C., D.O, and P.M.C; formal analysis and investigation: O.E.M., M.O.; resources: O.E.M., M.B, and P.M.C; writing—original draft preparation: O.E.M.; writing—review and editing: O.E.M., M.B; visualization: O.E.M., M.B., A.C., D.O, and P.M.C; supervision: M.B; project administration: M.B; all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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El Mountassir, O., Bahir, M., Ouazar, D. et al. Temporal and spatial assessment of groundwater contamination with nitrate using nitrate pollution index (NPI), groundwater pollution index (GPI), and GIS (case study: Essaouira basin, Morocco). Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 17132–17149 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16922-8

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