Potentialities of Water Resources Pollution of the Nile River Delta, Egypt

ABSTRACT

The population growth, economic development with the consequent anthropogenic activities at the Nile Delta of Egypt addresses the present-day hydro-environmental status and quality deterioration trends of surface Nile River water. The hydrochemical fingerprints of surface waters revealed the effects of points and non-points sources of pollution. The relative low Cl- and SO₄^2- in Nile water of Damietta and Rosetta branches precludes subjacent sources of polluted water. Mixing of surface Nile waters with other drainage polluted ones was revealed by Ludwig-Langelier and Piper diagrams, where there is a general tendency towards no-dominant water type’s regime in the Nile River branches with a certain modification in the hydrochemical facies of the drains waters. This modification is due to their pollution by point and non-point sources. The general tendency of water quality deterioration is generally towards the north. The pattern given by the multivariate statistical clustering technique for water quality discrimination indicated that the chief pollution sources prevalent had some commonality, which reveals similar phenomena of mixing and deterioration pattern, as the water, in general, is coming from one source (Nile River), which was subsequently modified by the natural and anthropogenic activities. The picture with respect to the nature of existing pollutants revealed the tendency of areas associated with parameters like the anthropogenic activities are getting widespread (not concentrated) over the whole area of study.