Impact of Hydraulic Developments on the Quality of Surface Water in the Mafragh Watershed, El Tarf, Algeria

Abstract

The wadis are environments of great ecological and economic importance. They are the seat of several hydraulic developments. The latter disrupts the functioning of the wadi in different ways. They modify their hydrological regime, disrupt the ecological conditions upstream and downstream of the reservoir, reduce the self-purification capacities, and modify the processes of erosion and solid transport. It is in this perspective that we have carried out a study of the impact of hydraulic installations on the quality of the waters of the Mafragh watershed. The hydrographic network of the watershed receives the wastewater discharged by the localities and by the industries located along these rivers. This wastewater contributes to the degradation of the water quality of the wadis. The spatio-temporal variation of the water quality index showed a good quality at the level of the dams, while at the level of the sites, which are located downstream, the quality generally varies between bad and very bad during the study period.

Keywords

• dam, hydraulic development, wadi, water quality index