GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONTINENTAL WATERS DOWNSTREAM FROM THE BOU REGREG BASIN AND THE TEMARA PLAIN (MOROCCO

In the final section of the Bou Regreg river basin (Northern Morocco) a rapidly expanding process of urbanization is in progress, due to its proximity to Rabat, the capital of the Kingdom. This study focuses on the chemical quality of surface and ground waters in an area affected by anthropogenic sources of pollution from a waste dump and agricultural activities. On a set of 33 water samples, main components and selected trace elements were analyzed. Geochemical classification of the waters was carried out. The water quality deterioration is due mainly to the tidal sea water intrusion into the river up to 24 km upstream from its estuary on the ocean. This salty water feeds the shallow aquifer nearest to the river. This study has found that there is not, except for mercury, significant releases of heavy metals from the waste dump. The shallow wa-ters also show the commonplace contamination by agricultural fertilizers with, at times, high values of ni-trates in irrigated areas; contamination from mercury, probably due to the presence of salts of this element in pesticides, was also found in some wells.