Assessment of the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of groundwater in the Kert Plain, northeastern Morocco

The notion of groundwater susceptibility is generally studied in rapports of the ability of a medium to transmit a pollutant vertically from the surface towards the saturated zone. The protection and good management of the groundwater resource are essential. The present work is part of the monitoring of the hydrogeochemical evolution and quality of groundwater in the Oued Kert basin (Mediterranean zone, Driouch Province, eastern Morocco); by determining the concentrations of major ions and contamination indices. Sampling was carried out by ISO 5665 standard. Besides the arithmetic analysis of the statistics by the principle components analysis, the interpretation of the analytical data about the phenomena responsible for the mineralization was also carried out using the hydrochemical classification, resulting from the Piper diagram. The waters of the basin are characterized by strong to weak medium to low mineralization (760 < EC < 9500 μS∙cm⁻¹), where more than 30% samples showed nitrate concentrations above the world standard. On microbiological level, the study reports the existence of bacteria: coliforms (0 CFU.100 mL⁻¹ < FC < 850 CFU.100 mL⁻¹), Streptococcus Fecal (0 CFU.100 mL⁻¹ < FS < 330 CFU.100 mL⁻¹). The presence of high levels of fecal bacteria, confirming the influence of septic tanks, and the usage of animal waste on groundwater vulnerability.