Chapters authored
Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Groundwater: A Case Study of the South of Setif Area, East Algeria
Heavy metals in groundwater were analyzed and their sources and impacts were identified using multivariate statistical tools and risk assessment. Three significant factors were extracted by factor analysis (FA), explaining 75.69% of total variance. These factors were in turn described by the clusters C3, C2 and C1, respectively, resulting from the cluster analysis (CA). Factor analysis and cluster analysis revealed significant anthropogenic contributions and water-rock interaction effects of the metals in groundwater. The mean values of heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) and degree of contamination (Cdeg) indices indicated that the groundwater samples were contaminated with high degree of pollution by cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). The hazard quotients (via ingestion) of Cd and Pb were found to be higher than the safe limits, posing threat to the consumers. However, no risk related to the dermal contact was associated with the measured metal levels.
Part of the book: Achievements and Challenges of Integrated River Basin Management
Suitability and Assessment of Surface Water for Irrigation Purpose
Surface water is an important resource that can create tensions between different countries sharing the same water sources to know that the agriculture is considered as the last sector that exploits less water compared to the industry which uses very large water quantities. The future strategies of agricultural development in the most of these countries depend on the ability to maintain, improve and expand irrigated agriculture. In this light, this chapter is written in the way to show some steps of the evaluation of surface water for irrigation purpose. The results obtained from this research make it possible to evaluate the suitability of surface water for irrigation and to draw useful recommendations for dam managers and farmers.
Part of the book: Water Chemistry