Evaluation of the River-Shallow Aquifer Exchange Process Effect on Surface Water Quality Deterioration

Recently, according to a survey carried out in Oued El Abid River by Oum Er-Rbia Hydraulic Basin Agency concerned about the surface water quality, the downstream course is undergoing continual degradation in its water quality comparable to the upstream. This study comes to localize the sources of pollution and explains the process of degradation, which affects the water quality in that area. For this purpose, an inspection of the place has been done during January 2017 to cover the entire zone limited by the affected part of river, followed by a survey, which interests to water quality and the ground-water depth. The inspection doesn’t show any direct liquid discharge into the river;meanwhile the water quality degradation is related to the underground sources through river-shallow-aquifer exchange process, when the obtained results from the survey showed that severe parameters are involved in the degradation of groundwater, as the geology and agricultural activities. Combining these results with flow direction in groundwater, it is clear that pollutants are transported to the river via the river-shallow aquifer exchange process, which affects its quality. Based on the finding results, this study will give the decision makers a simple view to a complex pollution processing.

Khettaras in the Taflalet oasis(Morocco):contribution to the promotion of tourism and sustainable development

The khettaras constitute a hydraulic system for mobilising water by gravity from the water table to the surface to irrigate felds in oases.This system,which has been fairly widespread in North Africa,in particular in Algeria(foggara)and Morocco(khettaras),was introduced several centuries ago in the oases of southeastern Morocco and has contin‑ued to operate despite various natural and anthropic constraints.Based on these ingenious and millennial hydraulic systems,successive civilisations living in these environments have been able to establish laws and regulations for the management and mobilisation of natural resources,especially water.Indeed,to get the most out of these systems,users have had to abide by rules(Al Orf/Azref)designed to protect,promote,and care for the systems to enhance their sustainability.These hydraulic systems have declined in recent years,notably due to extensive groundwater pumping,climate variability(severe droughts),and the local population’s disinterest for this type of development.Therefore,we have unfortunately witnessed the loss of a thousand-year-old local ancestral know-how that had been developed by diferent succeeding civilisations in the area.Recent initiatives(2008–2011)have been undertaken by the Moroccan government for the restoration and development of some abandoned khettaras in the Taflalet Oasis so that they could be utilised in the development of an oasis-based cultural tourism and integrated in a tourist circuit known as Majhoul.This initiative,still in its infancy,has constituted an alternative and a fairly encouraging development for this national and world heritage.