Physico-chemical characterization of the water of Boufekrane River (Meknes, Morocco)

The Boufekrane River is an important stream which rises west of El Hajeb (Ain Maarouf), located at 740 m above sea level, and crosses the commune of Boufekrane and the city of Meknes. This river, which is used mainly by the population of the region for irrigation and swimming, receives the discharge of raw wastewater without prior treatment. Therefore, the assessment of the quality of its water is a priority. A physico-chemical characterization of the river water was carried out during the period of March 2017 - February 2018. The descriptive analysis of the results showed that the river water undergoes significant physico-chemical variations downstream wastewater discharges, with a slight self-purification during the course of the watercourse but without reaching the initial quality noted at the source. This analysis also defined the spatio-temporal variations. The study also revealed that the average values of the quality parameters (pH, nitrite, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, Iron, chlorides, turbidity, conductivity and sulfates) of the water at the source are respectively 7.63, 0.01 mg / l, 3.47 mg / l, 5.81 mg/l, 0.14 mg/l, 115.08 mg/l, 0.48 NTU,
$726.33 \ \mu\mathrm{s}/\text{cm}$
and 21.88 mg/l. They are thus below the maximum limit values for drinking water which are respectively
$6.5 < \text{pH} < 8.5, 5\ \hbox{`}\leq \mathrm{O}2\leq 8,0.5\ \text{mg}/\mathrm{l}$
, 50 mg/l, 0.3 mg/l, 750 mg/l, 5 NTU,
$2700\ \mu\mathrm{s}/\text{cm}$
and 400 mg/l.