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Assessing groundwater vulnerability to nitrate pollution using statistical approaches: a case study of Sidi Bouzid shallow aquifer, Central Tunisia

  • iCAGE 2016
  • Published:
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Abstract

The study region comprises the Sidi Bouzid shallow aquifer, which is located in the western part of Central Tunisia. It is mainly occupied by agricultural land with intensive use of chemical fertilizers especially nitrates. For this reason, nitrate measurement was performed in 38 water samples to evaluate and calibrate the obtained models. Several environmental parameters were analyzed using groundwater nitrate concentrations, and different statistical approaches were applied to assess and validate the groundwater vulnerability to nitrate pollution in the Sidi Bouzid shallow aquifer. Multiple linear regression (MLR), analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), and logistic regression (LR) were carried out for studying the nitrate effects on groundwater pollution. Statistical analyses were used to identify major environmental factors that control the groundwater nitrate concentration in this region. Correlation and statistical analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the nitrate (dependent variable) and various environmental variables (independent variables). All methods show that “groundwater depth” and “land use” parameters are statistically significant at 95% level of confidence. Groundwater vulnerability map was obtained by overlaying these two thematic layers which were obtained in the GIS environment. It shows that the high vulnerability area coincides with the likelihood that nitrate concentration exceeds 24.5 mg/l in groundwater. The relationship between the groundwater vulnerability classes and the nitrate concentrations provides satisfactory results; it showed an Eta-squared correlation coefficient of 64%. So, the groundwater vulnerability map can be used as a synthetic document for realistic management of groundwater quality.

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Acknowledgements

The authors warmly thank the anonymous reviewers for their detailed and constructive criticisms, which were of great help in improving this manuscript. The authors also wish to express their thanks to Prof. Ahmed REBAI, Laboratory Director, Sfax Biotechnology Center (CBS) for carefully editing and proofreading statistical approaches of the present study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LR3E, National Engineering School, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia

    Ikram Jmal, Bachaer Ayed, Emna Boughariou, Nabila Allouche, Salwa Saidi & Salem Bouri

  2. ARE, Regional Commissary for Agricultural Development (CRDA), Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia

    Monji Hamdi

Authors
  1. Ikram Jmal
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  2. Bachaer Ayed
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  3. Emna Boughariou
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  4. Nabila Allouche
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  5. Salwa Saidi
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  6. Monji Hamdi
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  7. Salem Bouri
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Correspondence to Ikram Jmal.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Georesources and Environmental Management

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Jmal, I., Ayed, B., Boughariou, E. et al. Assessing groundwater vulnerability to nitrate pollution using statistical approaches: a case study of Sidi Bouzid shallow aquifer, Central Tunisia. Arab J Geosci 10, 364 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3143-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3143-5

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