Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spatiotemporal evaluation of the groundwater quality in Gharbiya Governorate, Egypt

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Groundwater quality indicators were monitored over 6 years (2007–2012) from 55 drinking water supply wells in Gharbiya Governorate (Egypt). The prime objective was to characterize, for the first time, the governorate-wide significant and sustained trends in the concentrations of the groundwater pollutants. Quality indicators included turbidity, pH, total dissolved solid (TDS), electric conductivity (EC), Cl−, SO4 2−, Na+, total alkalinity, hardness (total, Mg, and Ca), Fe2+, Mn2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, F−, NH4 +, NO2 −, NO3 −, PO4 3−, dissolved oxygen (DO), and SiO2 contents. Detection and estimation of trends and magnitude were carried out applying the non-parametric Mann–Kendall and Thiel–Sen trend statistical tests, respectively. Factor analysis was applied to identify significant sources of quality variation and their loads. Violation of groundwater quality standards clarified emergence of Mn2+ (46%), Fe2+ (35%), and NH4 + (33%). Out of the 55 wells, notable upward trends (deterioration) were significant (>95% level) for TDS (89%), NO3 − (85), PO4 3− (75%), NH4 + (65%), total alkalinity (62%), Fe2+ (58%), NO2 − (47%), Mg hardness (36%), turbidity (25%), and Mn2+ (24%). Ranges of attenuation rates (mg/l/year) varied for TDS (24.3, −0.7), Mg hardness (3.8, −0.85), total alkalinity (1.4, −1.2), NO3 − (0.52, −0.066), PO4 3− (0.069, −0.064), NH4 + (0.038, −0.019), Mn2+ (0.015, −0.044), Fe2+ (0.006, −0.014), and NO2 − (0.006, −0.00003). Highest rates marked Tanta (total alkalinity and Fe2+), Al-Mehala Al-Kubra (TDS, Mg hardness, and NO3 −), Kafr Al-Zayat (NH4 +), Zifta (Mn2+), Bassyun (NO2 −), and Qutur (PO4 3−). Precision of the trend estimate varied in goodness of fit, for TDS (86%), Mg hardness (76%), total alkalinity (73%), PO4 3− (67.4%), NH4 + (66.8%), Mn2+ (55%), and Fe2+ (49.6%), arranged in decreasing order. Two main varimax-rotated factors counted for more than 55% of the quality variance and, in particular, significant loads of salinity (TDS, EC, Cl−, Na+, and SO4 2−), followed by the alkalinity, hardness, redox potentials (Mn2+ and Fe2+), and NH4 +, in decreasing order were identified. The spatial-temporal variation in pollutants originated from organic matter degradation, either naturally from the aquifer peaty sediments or anthropogenic due to improper well head protection in the urban centers or from the agricultural drains in low relief areas. Considering the latest contents of indicators and their rate of increase, the time that the permissible limits would be reached can be accurately estimated and alleviative actions could be effectively set.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baker MA, Valett HM, Dahm CN (2000) Organic carbon supply and metabolism in a shallow groundwater ecosystem. Ecology 81(11):3133–3148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourg ACM, Bertin C (1994) Season and spatial trends in manganese solubility in an alluvial aquifer. Environ Sci Technol 28:868–876

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • British Geological Survay-BGS (2014) Water quality fact sheet: manganese. Available at: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=1275. (Last checked 20 June 2014)

  • Buschmann J, Berg M, Stengel C, Sampson ML (2007) Arsenic and manganese contamination of drinking water resources in Cambodia: coincidence of risk areas with low relief topography. Environ Sci Technol 41(7):2146–2152

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • CAPMAS (2012) Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egypt. http://www.capmas.gov.eg/

  • Chae GT, Yun ST, Choi BY, Yu SY, Jo HY, Mayer B, Kim YJ, Lee JY (2008) Hydrochemistry of urban groundwater, Seoul, Korea: the impact of subway tunnels on groundwater quality. J Contam Hydrol 101(1–4):42–52

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Darling WG, Morris B, Stuart ME, Gooddy DC (2007) Groundwater age indicators from public supplies tapping the chalk aquifer of southern England. Water Environ J 19(1):30–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ebraheem AM, Senosy MM, Dahab KA (1997) Geoelectrical and hydrogeochemical studies for delineating ground-water contamination due to salt-water intrusion in the northern part of the Nile Delta, Egypt. Groundwater 35(2):216–222

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eilers PHC, Marx BD (1992) In: Fahrmeir L et al (eds) Generalized linear models with P-splines in advances in GLIM and statistical modelling. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Eilers PHC, Marx BD (1996) Flexible smoothing with b-splines and penalties. Stat Sci 11(2):89–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Froehlich, K., Yurtsever, Y. (1995) Isotope techniques for water resources in arid and semiarid regions. In: Adair EM, Leibundgut C (ed) Application of tracers in arid zone hydrology. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publications, v. 232, p. 3–12

  • Grimm NB, Faeth SH, Golubiewski NE et al (2008) Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319:756–760

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harris J, Loftis JC, Montgomery RH (1987) Statistical methods for characterizing ground-water quality. Groundwater 25(2):185–193

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hefny K, Shata A (2004) Underground water in Egypt. Ministry of Water Supplies and Irrigation, Egypt, vol 25. Annual Meeting, Egypt, Commission on Mineral and Thermal Waters, Handouts, Cairo, pp 11–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Helena B, Pardo R, Vega M, Barrado E, Fernandez JM, Fernandez L (2000) Temporal evolution of groundwater composition in an alluvial aquifer (Pissuerga River, Spain) by principal component analysis. Water Res 34(3):807–816

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Helsel DR, Hirsch RM (1992) Statistical methods in water resources. Studies in environmental science, vol 49. Elsevier Science Publishers BV, Amsterdam (chapter 13)

    Google Scholar 

  • Helsel DR, Hirsch RM (2002) Statistical methods in water resources techniques of water resources investigations, book 4, chapter A3. U.S. Geological Survey, p 522

  • Hirsch RM, Slack JR (1984) A nonparametric trend test for seasonal data with serial dependence. Water Resour Res 20(6):727–732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch RM, Slack JR, Smith RA (1982) Techniques of trend analysis for monthly water quality data. Water Resour Res 18(1):107–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Homoncik SC, MacDonald AM, Heal KV, Dochartaigh BÉ, Ngwenya BT Ó (2010) Manganese concentrations in Scottish groundwater. Sci Total Environ 408:2467–2473

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jones WR, Spence MJ, Bowman AW, Evers L, Molinari DA (2014) A software tool for the spatiotemporal analysis and reporting of groundwater monitoring data. Environ Model Softw 55:242–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser K, Benner R (2008) Major bacterial contribution to the ocean reservoir of detrital organic carbon and nitrogen. Limnol Oceanogr 53(1):99–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kalbitz K, Solinger S, Park JH, Michalzik B, Matzner E (2000) Controls on the dynamics of dissolved organic matter in soils: a review. Soil Sci 165(4):277–304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kendall MG (1938) A new measure of rank correlation. Biometrika 30:81–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendall MG (1975) Rank correlation methods. Charles Griffin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Locsey KL, Cox ME (2003) Statistical and hydrochemical methods to compare basalt- and basement rock-hosted groundwaters: Atheron Tablelands, northeastern Australia. Environ Geol 43(6):698–713

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mann HB (1945) Non-parametric tests against trend. Econometrica 13:245–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masoud AA (2014) Spatio-temporal evaluation of the groundwater quality in Kafr Al-Zayat District, Egypt. Hydrol Process 27(20):2987–3002

    Google Scholar 

  • Masoud AA, Koike K, Mashaly HA, Gergis F (2016) Spatio-temporal trends and change factors of groundwater quality in an arid area with peat rich aquifers: emergence of water environmental problems in Tanta District, Egypt. J Arid Environ 124:360–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novotny EV, Stefan HG (2007) Stream flow in Minnesota: indicator of climate change. J Hydrol 334(3–4):319–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panda DK, Mishra A, Jena SK, James BK, Kumnar A (2007) Influence of drought and anthropogenic effects on groundwater level in Orissa, India. J Hydrol 343(3–4):140–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pereira HG, Renca S, Sataiva J (2003) A case study on geochemical anomaly identification through principal component analysis supplementary projection. Appl Geochem 18:37–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Plummer LN, Rupert MG, Busenberg E, Schlosser P (2000) Age of irrigation water in groundwater from the Snake River Plain aquifer. South-Central Idaho. Groundwater 38(2):264–283

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rivers CN, Hiscock KM, Feast NA, Barrett MH, Dennis PF (1996) Use of nitrogen isotopes to identify nitrogen contamination of the Sherwood sandstone aquifer beneath the City of Nottingham, UK. J Hydrol 4:90–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotiroti M, Bonomi T, Fumagalli L (2013) An integrated approach to assess origin and mobilization of As, Fe and Mn in groundwater: the case study of Cremona (northern Italy). Geophys Res Abstr 15:EGU2013–EG11097

    Google Scholar 

  • Sankar MS, Vega MA, Defoe PP, Kibria MG, Ford S, Telfeyan K, Neal A, Mohajerinc TJ, Hettiarachchi GM, Barua S, Hobsona C, Johannesson K, Datta S (2014) Elevated arsenic and manganese in groundwaters of Murshidabad, West Bengal, India. Sci Total Environ 488-489(1):570–579

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sen PK (1968) Estimation of regression co-efficients based on Kendall’s tau. J Am Stat Assoc 63(324):1379–1389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suk H, Lee KK (1999) Characterization of hydrochemical system through multivariate analysis: clustering into groundwater zones. Groundwater 37(3):358–366

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thiel H (1950) A rank-invariant method of linear and polynomial regression analysis. Part 3. Proceedings of Koninalijke Nederlandse Akademie van Weinenschatpen A 53:1397–1412

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Li Y, Li Y, Liu F, Liu X, Gong D, Ma Q, Li W, Wu J (2015) Intensive rice agriculture deteriorates the quality of shallow groundwater in a typical agricultural catchment in subtropical central China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22(17):13278–13290

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2002) The world health report 2002—reducing risks, promoting healthy life

  • Wolf L, Hötzl H (2006) Upscaling of laboratory results on sewer leakage and the associated uncertainty. International Association of Hydrologists Special Paper Series, Balkema, Rotterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Wunderlin DA, Diaz MDP, Ame MV, Pesce SF, Hued AC et al (2001) Pattern recognition techniques for the evaluation of spatial and temporal variations in water quality. A case study: Suquia River Basin (Cordoba Argentina). Water Res 35:2881–2894

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yu PS, Yang TC, Chou CC (2002) Effects of climate change on evapotranspiration from paddy fields in southern Taiwan. Climate Change 54(1–2):165–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou SB, Yuan XZ, Peng SC, Yue JS, Wang XF, Liu H, Williams DD (2014) Groundwater-surface water interactions in the hyporheic zone under climate change scenarios. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21:13943–13955

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou AX, Zhang YL, Dong TZ, Lin XY, Su XS (2015) Response of the microbial community to seasonal groundwater level fluctuations in petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated groundwater. Environ Sci Pollut Res 1–13

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are greatly indebted to Prof Dr. Philippe Garrigues, editor in chief, Journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research, and the two anonymous reviewers for the given time and expertise to comment on the paper and for their constructive comments, which contributed to the improvement of the manuscript. Also, thanks go to Mr. Hamdy Mashaly, head of laboratories section at the Holding Company for Drinking Water and Wastewater (HCDWW) Tanta headquarter, for securing the data for this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt

    Alaa A. Masoud & Wafaa El-Nashar

  2. Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring (CLEQM), National Water Research Center (NWRC), Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed M. El Bouraie

  3. Holding Company for Drinking Water and Wastewater (HCDWW), Tanta, Egypt

    Hamdy Mashaly

Authors
  1. Alaa A. Masoud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohamed M. El Bouraie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wafaa El-Nashar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hamdy Mashaly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alaa A. Masoud.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Masoud, A.A., El Bouraie, M.M., El-Nashar, W. et al. Spatiotemporal evaluation of the groundwater quality in Gharbiya Governorate, Egypt. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 8256–8278 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8445-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8445-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation