Impacts of agricultural reuse of treated wastewater on the microbiological quality of groundwater in Ouargla basin (Northern Algerian Sahara)

Abstract

The objective of our work is to highlight the impacts of the agricultural reuse of treated wastewater on the microbiological quality of groundwater in the Ouargla basin. A comparative study was carried out between the bacterial densities of four germs (total and faecal coliforms, total and faecal streptococci), at the level of nine piezometers installed in plots irrigated by unconventional treated, conventionally irrigated and nonirrigated water. Our main results from this research show that irrigation with treated wastewater affects the increase in bacterial concentrations in groundwater. The average load of total and faecal coliforms recorded in piezometers irrigated by treated water is estimated successively at 2433±31 germs/100ml and 1210±26 germs/100ml...