Potential Groundwater Pollution Risks by Heavy Metals from Agricultural Soil in Songon Area(Abidjan,Cote d’Ivoire)

The soil samples were collected taking into account the land use in Songon area. The hydraulic conductivity (K) of soils was characterized in-situ when specific yield (Sy), pHw and concentrations of Cooper, Iron, Zinc, Cadmium, Chromium and Lead were measured in the laboratory. Pollution load indices (PLI) were calculated to evaluate the soil contamination levels. The soils were neutral and alkaline (6.7≤ pH ≤ 9.20), permeable (1.9 í 10-5?m·s-1?≤ K ≤ 8.2 í 10-4?m·s-1), with a high specific yield (13.33% ≤ Sy ≤ 33.33%) which can favor the pollutants transfer. The heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb) have very high concentrations in soils. The integrated pollution indices (PLI) indicate that almost 70% of Songon soils are moderately contaminated by the investigated heavy metals, with windows presenting high indices of pollution related to the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides. The establishment of new boreholes in the Songon area should consider these heavy metals, so as to avoid the risk of groundwater pollution due to the physical properties of soils.

A New Statistical Approach to Assess Climate Variability in the White Bandama Watershed,Northern Cote d’Ivoire

The population of northern C&#244te d’Ivoire, especially in the white Bandama watershed, lives for majority in rural areas and depends on farming, which is mainly linked to climate variability. This study evaluates the trends within watershed’s hydro-climatic variables and their level of significance over the period 1950-2000. The methodological approach consists in applying successively standardized indexes to detect trends and breaks in hydro-climatic long-term data. The Mann-Kendall statistical test lets us know the trends significance and the Kendall-Theil Robust Line test reveals their magnitude. The Student’s t test underlines break years. Results show that although rainfall has decreased, this decline is not statistically significant. However, temperature and potential evapotranspiration have strongly rised and discharge was submitted to high decline. These changes in hydrometeorological variables appeared from 1970 to 1980. This study is different from others conducted on climate variability in the northern C&#244te d’Ivoire by the methodological statistical framework implemented and the understanding of significance level of climate trends. Until now, authors used the standardized index to detect trends in hydro-climatic parameters. For this work, we added the Mann-Kendall statistical test to assess the significance level of these trends at α = 5% and 10%. Then, the Kendall-Theil statistical test was used to highlight the trends magnitude and the student’s t test to know the break years.

Use of a Multiple Regression Model in the Estimation of Water Borehole Flows in the Middle of Cracked Basement in Côte d’Ivoire

The objective of this study was to propose a mathematical regression model to estimate the exploitation flow rate of a water borehole from geophysical parameters in the midst of a fissured basement in the central-eastern part of C?te d’Ivoire. The data of the study are both hydrogeological and geophysical parameters from one hundred and eleven (111) data sheets of (111) water and geophysical boreholes. Two methods were used. The Normal Principal Component Analysis (NPCA) method applied to the data made it possible to select the explanatory variables (geophysical parameters) for borehole productivity. The multiple linear regression method subsequently made it possible to propose a mathematical model capable of estimating the exploitation rate from the geophysical parameters. The results indicate a very strong correlation (0.87) between longitudinal conductivity and flow rate, with flow rate and apparent resistivity negatively correlated. The multiple linear regression method highlighted two relevant explanatory variables, longitudinal conductivity and apparent resistivity. These two geophysical parameters contributed to a mathematical model in the form Q = C1X1 + C2X2 + ... + CnXn + C0. the real model obtained in this work is Q = 0.82Cl - 0.12Rho.app + 2.5. The resulting model is efficient with a correlation of 86% in calibration and 95% in validation. A bias of 0.37 in calibration and 0.82 in validation is observed. Finally, the square root mean square error (RMSE) is 3.10 to 3.38 respectively in calibration and validation.

Modeling of Quaternary Groundwater Pollution Risk by GIS and Multicriteria Analysis in the Southern Part of Abidjan District(Cote d’Ivoire)

The pollution generated by human activities in the area “Vridi canal-Grand Bassam” puts more at risk the quaternary groundwater that supplies water to a large part of the population of the southern part of Abidjan city. This paper deals with the combined approach of geographic information systems and multicriteria analysis to delineate areas at risk of pollution of groundwater in the study area. The multicriteria analysis also incorporated the statistical and geostatistical techniques for defining the factor ratings and weightings of all the parameters under a GIS environment. The criterion for these factor ratings and weightings was the correlation coefficient of each parameter with the nitrates concentration in groundwater. Two indicators were combined for creating situations of pollution risks according to their importance: the intrinsic vulnerability indicators which combined the depth to groundwater, the net recharge, the slope, the soil media, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and extrinsic vulnerability characterized by the land use. The results showed that all to the site presents nitrate pollution risks with 50.7% of moderate risk, and 49.3% of high and very high risks. The areas which present the highest risks of pollution are the densely urbanized communes of Treichville, Marcory, Koumasi, Port-Bouet and Grand-Bassam. The sensitivity analysis indicates that parameters causing high sensitivity on the nitrate pollution risks map are the depth to groundwater and the recharge. The errors committed on the maps establishment are ±0.15%, ±0.40% and ±6% respectively for IV map, EV map and pollution risk map.

Borehole Productivity Controlling Factors in Crystalline Bedrock Aquifer of Gkeke Region,Center of Cote d’Ivoire

The presence of both weathered rocks and fractured crystalline bedrock aquifers makes Hydrogeology in Gbêkê region of C?te d’Ivoire. Access to water in this region is not easy. This study focuses on the influence of borehole depth, weathering thickness and electrical resistivity of the geological structures on borehole productivity that exploit the crystalline aquifer system. Bivariate analysis was used to determine the relationships between these factors and specific capacity for measuring borehole productivity. The values ranged from 0.0088 to 2.20 m3?h?1?m?1. The analysis shows that there is no correlation between productivity and weathering thickness. However, weathering depths between 15 and 35 m provide the highest specific capacity values (Qs ≥ 1 m3?h?1?m?1). For hydrogeological discontinuities interest, boreholes located in KH, QH and H anomaly curve types were the most productive. As productivity diminishes with depth, a deeper borehole can be more productive if it reaches a geological structure that is favorable for groundwater flow. Those hydrogeological parameters are extremely important in borehole productivity in Gbêkê region.

Characterization of the Origin of Pollutants in Groundwater from Biostatistical Tests:The Case of Catchment Ehania,South-Eastern Cote d’Ivoire

The threat of agro-industrial exploitations on the quality of groundwater resources has become a major concern for the world’s population, mainly in agricultural areas. To solve this problem, several methods such as vulnerability to pollutants and statistics methods, have been adopted to protect these groundwaters. In this study, statistical tests were used to determine the likely source of pollutants in the groundwater resources. First, we made a comparative analysis and then analyzed pollutants parameters using Kohonen self-organizing map (SOM) which allows basic on the similarity to help out any correlation between the physic-chemical parameters. To validate these results, a land use map was developed to identify the sources of pollutants in production functions of different activities taking place on the catchment area. The results indicate very high levels of certain pollutants such as NO3-, Cl- and SO42- with generally higher than World Health Organization (WHO) standards values. These high levels observed could be attributed to the generally free nature of aquifers alteration and sedimentary formations in areas of high agro-industrial production. The analysis of the data from SOM method reveals a strong correlation between pollutants (NO3-, SO42-,Cl- ) and conductivity showing the likely origin of these surface pollutants,an origin that is linked to the existence of larges agro-industrials exploitations. These results are reinforced by those of the overlay map of the sampling sites on the land use map, which shows a strong coincidence between high values of pollutants and production areas of the pollutants that are agro-industrial exploitations. These areas of coincidence are observed in the north where found banana’s industrials plantations that are less visible and mostly in the southwest part where is one of the largest oil palm plantations in the world (36,000 hectares).