PMID- 37358774
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20231023
LR  - 20231023
IS  - 1614-7499 (Electronic)
IS  - 0944-1344 (Linking)
VI  - 30
IP  - 35
DP  - 2023 Jul
TI  - Analysis of hydrochemical characteristics and assessment of organic pollutants 
      (PAH and PCB) in El Fahs plain aquifer, northeast of Tunisia.
PG  - 84334-84356
LID - 10.1007/s11356-023-28216-2 [doi]
AB  - The availability of good quality groundwater constitutes a major concern in many 
      developing countries. The El Fahs shallow aquifer, northeastern Tunisia, is an 
      important source of water supply for various economic sectors in the agricultural 
      region. The intensive exploitation of this groundwater has led to its quality 
      degradation. In fact, assessment of water quality degradation is very useful in 
      planning the conservation and management practices of water resources in this 
      watershed. This research aims to evaluate the groundwater quality and its 
      suitability for irrigation uses, identify the main processes to assess their 
      chemical composition, and investigate the potential sources of persistent organic 
      pollutants (POPs). The hydrogeochemical investigation is thus conducted by 
      collecting groundwater samples and analyzing their physicochemical 
      characteristics. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (16 PAHs) and polychlorinated 
      biphenyls (7 PCBs) were determined in groundwaters from nine stations. The 
      sampling took place in July 2020. The relative abundance of ions was 
      Na > Mg > Ca > K for cations and Cl > SO(4) > HCO(3) for anions. The groundwater 
      exhibits two predominant hydrochemical facies: Ca-Mg-Cl/SO(4) and Na-Cl. The 
      relevant recorded pollutant is nitrate, which was generally far above values of 
      pollution thresholds indicating the influence by the intensive agricultural 
      activity. The suitability for irrigation purposes was assessed using several 
      parameters (EC, SAR, %Na, TH, PI, M(h), and K(r)). As a matter of fact, the 
      results mentioned that the majority of the samples are unsuitable for irrigation 
      uses. An analysis of the organic pollutants indicates that the total PAH and PCB 
      concentrations are above the permissible values. Therefore, a considerable 
      predominance of naphthalene and PCB28 was observed in order to discriminate 
      between pyrolitic and petrogenic PAH sources; low-molecular-weight 
      (LPAH)/high-molecular-weight (HPAH) ratio was calculated. Results showed that 
      PAHs were mainly of petrogenic origin. The results revealed also that the 
      chemical composition of groundwater is influenced by evaporation process, ion 
      exchange, and water-rock interaction during the flow. A high risk of organic 
      contamination has been highlighted linked to anthropogenic activities which have 
      exerted increasing pressure on groundwater quality. The presence of organic 
      pollutants in groundwater is becoming a serious threat to the environment and 
      human health.
CI  - (c) 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, 
      part of Springer Nature.
FAU - Farhat, Boutheina
AU  - Farhat B
AD  - Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Department of Geology, Laboratory of Mineral 
      Resources and Environment (LRME), University of Tunis El Manar, 2092 El Manar II, 
      Tunis, Tunisia. boutheina.farhat@fst.utm.tn.
FAU - Chrigui, Ranya
AU  - Chrigui R
AD  - National School of Engineering of Tunis, LR14ES03 Geotechnical Engineering and 
      Georisk Research Laboratory, University of Tunis El Manar, B.P. 37, Le Belvedere 
      1002, Tunis, Tunisia.
FAU - Rebai, Noamen
AU  - Rebai N
AD  - National School of Engineering of Tunis, LR14ES03 Geotechnical Engineering and 
      Georisk Research Laboratory, University of Tunis El Manar, B.P. 37, Le Belvedere 
      1002, Tunis, Tunisia.
FAU - Sebei, Abdelaziz
AU  - Sebei A
AD  - Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Department of Geology, Laboratory of Mineral 
      Resources and Environment (LRME), University of Tunis El Manar, 2092 El Manar II, 
      Tunis, Tunisia.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230626
PL  - Germany
TA  - Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
JT  - Environmental science and pollution research international
JID - 9441769
RN  - DFC2HB4I0K (Polychlorinated Biphenyls)
RN  - 0 (Environmental Pollutants)
RN  - 0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical)
SB  - IM
MH  - Humans
MH  - Environmental Monitoring/methods
MH  - *Polychlorinated Biphenyls/analysis
MH  - *Environmental Pollutants/analysis
MH  - Tunisia
MH  - Agricultural Irrigation/methods
MH  - *Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis
MH  - *Groundwater/chemistry
MH  - Water Quality
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Groundwater quality
OT  - Hydrochemistry
OT  - Irrigation suitability
OT  - Organic pollution; El Fahs aquifer
OT  - Tunisia
EDAT- 2023/06/26 13:07
MHDA- 2023/10/23 00:43
CRDT- 2023/06/26 11:14
PHST- 2022/08/25 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/06/07 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/10/23 00:43 [medline]
PHST- 2023/06/26 13:07 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/06/26 11:14 [entrez]
AID - 10.1007/s11356-023-28216-2 [pii]
AID - 10.1007/s11356-023-28216-2 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Jul;30(35):84334-84356. doi: 
      10.1007/s11356-023-28216-2. Epub 2023 Jun 26.