Assessment and Physicochemical Characterization of Groundwater Quality for Irrigation and Drinking Purposes in Bazer Sakhra (Eastern Area of Algeria)

Twenty groundwater samples were collected and then examined for physical (pH, EC, TDS) and chemical (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3−, Cl−, SO42−, NO3) parameters, followed by multivariate statistics to determine the current state of groundwater quality and to assess the suitability of these resources for drinking and irrigation purposes in the Baser Sakhra area localized in Eastern of Algeria. The analysis carried out showed that the cations trend in most of the groundwater samples is on the order of Ca2+˃Na+˃Mg2+˃K+ and the anions trend is on the order of HCO3-˃SO42-˃Cl-. Stabler diagram demonstrated the predominance of Ca2+- HCO3- hydro-chemical facies (80%). Moreover, the parameters, such as sodium adsorption ratio, percentage sodium, residual sodium carbonate, permeability index, Kelly’s ratio, potential salinity, and magnesium hazard were evaluated for the suitability of groundwater for irrigation. The values obtained in this investigation concluded that most of the groundwater samples are suitable for irrigation. From the other approach, the Water Quality Index (WQI) for drinking was also used in the current study. WQI ranged from 72.46 to 506.426, indicating that 40% of the samples were suitable for drinking however, 60% of them belong to the poor to unsuitable category of drinking water in terms of physicochemical properties, according to the World Health Organization norms.