Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)

The study was carried out in a shallow phreatic aquifer in the piedmont zone between the Atlas Mountains and Tadla plain in Morocco. This study is carried out using physicochemical analyses with statistical analysis (CA and PCA) to show variability of groundwater hydrochemical parameters beneath Ben...

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Main Authors: Mohamed El Baghdadi, Radouane Medah, Amal Jouider
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-01-01
Series:International Journal of Agronomy
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/7469741
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author Mohamed El Baghdadi
Radouane Medah
Amal Jouider
author_facet Mohamed El Baghdadi
Radouane Medah
Amal Jouider
author_sort Mohamed El Baghdadi
collection DOAJ
description The study was carried out in a shallow phreatic aquifer in the piedmont zone between the Atlas Mountains and Tadla plain in Morocco. This study is carried out using physicochemical analyses with statistical analysis (CA and PCA) to show variability of groundwater hydrochemical parameters beneath Beni Mellal city in order to know spatial variability of water quality under urban activities. Total dissolved solid shows large variation from 355 mg/L to 918 mg/L with high values recorded, as electric conductivity, in the city center. High sulfate content is intercepted also in the old city center with values exceeding the threshold in the Moroccan guideline. Sulfate ions are often suspected of having an anthropogenic origin. All water samples show a dominance of Ca against Mg (Ca/Mg: 1.08–6.25) and HCO3 against SO4 (HCO3/SO4: 0.29–6.92). For most of the trace elements, the measured concentrations were far below the standard values except Al and Fe in some samples which exceed all guideline values. PCA of all dataset highlights eight factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 that explained about 80.34% of the total variance. The first two components PC1 and PC2 explained about 41.14% of the total cumulative variance and were responsible for 24.25% and 16.89% of the variance for each one, respectively. The component PC1 is mostly correlated with electric conductivity, TDS, and chloride. The component PC2 was highly correlated with Ca, Cr, and Zn. The dendrogram at a linkage distance of about 10.5 leads to dividing the diagram into three clusters of water samples, C1, C2, and C3. Cluster C1 shows a medium content of EC, HCO3, and NO3 and low content of TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, K, SO4, and Ba compared with C2 and C3. C1 samples show the lowest ion content, resulting probably from the minimal time of residence within the aquifer with low rock interactions. Cluster C2 regroups samples with high content of Ca, Mg, K, SO4, Al, and Cr, medium content of TDS and Na, and low content of EC, HCO3, NO3, and Cl. Samples in cluster C3 have more content of heavy metal (Cd, Fe, Mn, and Ni), CE, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, HCO3, NO3, and Cl, with low content of Cr and Al and medium values of K and SO4. We recommended the monitoring and follow-up of the water quality under the city and the repair of pipes especially in the downtown area to limit unwanted infiltration. Spatial autocorrelation used with variograms and Moran'I leads to conclude that groundwater parameters varied differently according to the direction, which means that the semivariance depended on direction and distance between samples.
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spelling doaj-art-cf3459966d2e4fc7a0b1878b6e1fc5392025-02-03T06:12:44ZengWileyInternational Journal of Agronomy1687-81591687-81672019-01-01201910.1155/2019/74697417469741Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)Mohamed El Baghdadi0Radouane Medah1Amal Jouider2Georessources and Environment Laboratory GEORE, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Beni-Mellal 23000, MoroccoOffice National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable, Branche Eau, Beni Mellal, MoroccoWilaya Beni Mellal Khénifra, Beni Mellal, MoroccoThe study was carried out in a shallow phreatic aquifer in the piedmont zone between the Atlas Mountains and Tadla plain in Morocco. This study is carried out using physicochemical analyses with statistical analysis (CA and PCA) to show variability of groundwater hydrochemical parameters beneath Beni Mellal city in order to know spatial variability of water quality under urban activities. Total dissolved solid shows large variation from 355 mg/L to 918 mg/L with high values recorded, as electric conductivity, in the city center. High sulfate content is intercepted also in the old city center with values exceeding the threshold in the Moroccan guideline. Sulfate ions are often suspected of having an anthropogenic origin. All water samples show a dominance of Ca against Mg (Ca/Mg: 1.08–6.25) and HCO3 against SO4 (HCO3/SO4: 0.29–6.92). For most of the trace elements, the measured concentrations were far below the standard values except Al and Fe in some samples which exceed all guideline values. PCA of all dataset highlights eight factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 that explained about 80.34% of the total variance. The first two components PC1 and PC2 explained about 41.14% of the total cumulative variance and were responsible for 24.25% and 16.89% of the variance for each one, respectively. The component PC1 is mostly correlated with electric conductivity, TDS, and chloride. The component PC2 was highly correlated with Ca, Cr, and Zn. The dendrogram at a linkage distance of about 10.5 leads to dividing the diagram into three clusters of water samples, C1, C2, and C3. Cluster C1 shows a medium content of EC, HCO3, and NO3 and low content of TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, K, SO4, and Ba compared with C2 and C3. C1 samples show the lowest ion content, resulting probably from the minimal time of residence within the aquifer with low rock interactions. Cluster C2 regroups samples with high content of Ca, Mg, K, SO4, Al, and Cr, medium content of TDS and Na, and low content of EC, HCO3, NO3, and Cl. Samples in cluster C3 have more content of heavy metal (Cd, Fe, Mn, and Ni), CE, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, HCO3, NO3, and Cl, with low content of Cr and Al and medium values of K and SO4. We recommended the monitoring and follow-up of the water quality under the city and the repair of pipes especially in the downtown area to limit unwanted infiltration. Spatial autocorrelation used with variograms and Moran'I leads to conclude that groundwater parameters varied differently according to the direction, which means that the semivariance depended on direction and distance between samples.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/7469741
spellingShingle Mohamed El Baghdadi
Radouane Medah
Amal Jouider
Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)
International Journal of Agronomy
title Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)
title_full Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)
title_fullStr Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)
title_full_unstemmed Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)
title_short Using Statistical Analysis to Assess Urban Groundwater in Beni Mellal City (Morocco)
title_sort using statistical analysis to assess urban groundwater in beni mellal city morocco
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/7469741
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