Full Length Research Paper

Groundwater nitrate pollution in Souss-Massa basin (south-west Morocco)

Tarik Tagma^1*, Youssef Hsissou¹, Lhoussaine Bouchaou¹, Latifa Bouragba² and Said Boutaleb¹

¹Applied Geology and Geo-environment Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, P.O. Box. 8106, Agadir 80060, Morocco.

²Research Team EA 2642 “Geoscience: Deformation, Flow, Transfer”, Faculty of Sciences, University of Franche-Comté, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon cedex, France.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: tariktagma@yahoo.fr. Tel: +212  663142852, +212 670575682. Fax: +212 548220100.

Accepted 1 September, 2009

Abstract

The objective of our study was to determine the current status of alluvial aquifer in the Souss-Massa basin, where the nitrate pollution of groundwater is being increasing along the last decades. A multi-approach methodology using hydrogeology, nitrate concentrations, irrigation type and oxygen-18 and deuterium data, was carried out to identify the sources of this pollution. According to the spatial distribution of nitrate contents, nitrate pollution occurs mainly in Chtouka-Massa plain. More than 36% of the sampled wells exceed the value of 50 mg/L as NO­₃^-. Groundwater in Souss plain is less polluted comparing it to Chtouka-Massa; only 7% of wells exceed the permitted level. Agricultural practices in the study sites are the main cause of serious nitrate pollution given the superimposition of high nitrate concentrations with the distribution of irrigated perimeters. High nitrate levels are associated with high δ¹⁸O values, clearly indicating that significant quantities of evaporated irrigation waters infiltrate along with fertilizer nitrate to groundwater system. Different δ¹⁸O-NO₃^- trends suggest isotopically distinct, non-point source origins which vary spatially and temporally, due to different degrees of evaporation/recharge and amounts of fertilizer applied.

Key words: Groundwater, contamination, nitrate, water isotopes, agricultural fertilizers, Morocco.