Evaluation quantitative et qualitative des eaux souterraines de la région d’Azzaba wilaya de Skikda

Abstract

The Azzaba region located in the North East of Algeria is an area of major economic relevance. In fact, there is an extensive area of agricultural land, which covers half the surface of the region, mercurial mines located in the region, and also there is the aquifer of the valley of the western Oued El Kebir.In addition, the region has undergone pollution of surface and groundwater resources due to population growth and economic development especially in the field of agriculture, however, the establishment of mercury mines remains the most influential source of pollution that has affected water resources, therefore the region has known a rapid deterioration of the overall quality of its water resources. The purpose of this study is to localize the infiltration susceptibility of mercury pollution that is involved in the pollution of groundwater in the area and in order to achieve this goal we used the multicriteria analysis based on several factors: lithology, soil moisture, slope distribution, land use in our study area, and the density of the hydrographic network. The superposition of these parameters will allow us to establish the final map of susceptibility to infiltration. Finally, an overlay of the previously mentioned map with the map of mercury distribution in the soils will allow us to evaluate and map the vulnerability of these waters to the infiltration of mercury pollutants. The concentration of ercury is very high close to the center of exploitation and production, which leads to a risk of infiltration of mercury pollution in depth by polluting the groundwater.