Evaluation of surface water quality for drinking purposes: a case of Guenitra dam (North-East Algeria)

Abstract

The Guenitra dam is located in the south-western part of Skikda region (north-eastern Algeria). It occupies the downstream part of its catchment area with a total capacity of 120 hm3 and a regulatable volume of 48 hm3/year. Its waters are used for different purposes (drinking water, industry and irrigation). The latter is exposed to anthropogenic activities including mainly urban waste and leachates from the abandoned polymetallic sulphide mine of Sidi Kamber. A six-month monitoring (November 2017 to April 2018) was carried out on the waters of the Guenitra dam by the National Agency for Hydraulic Resources of Constantine (ANRH), with the aim of evaluating the water quality of the Guenitra dam based on the determination of the water quality index (WQI) and the organic pollution index (OPI). The OPI shows that 80% of the samples belong to the moderate quality type of water (3 < OPI < 3.9). While the WQI shows that 70% of the samples have a good quality (25 < WQI < 50), which is suitable for drinking purposes, with the exception of the March and April waters which revealed poor quality and unsafe water (WQI > 75). This degradation of water quality is seasonal due to variations in water inflow to the dam.