Impact of drainage effluents on the water quality of Abu-Qir Bay, Alexandria, Egypt

ABSTRACT

Abu-Qir Bay, a semi-enclosed heavily polluted Mediterranean basin in Egypt, is receiving huge amounts of untreated sewage, industrial, and agricultural waste waters via three land-based sources Tabia pumping station [TPS], Outlet of lake Edku [Boughaz El-Maadiya], and Rosseta mouth of River Nile. In order to mitigate and control the impact of pollution on coastal and marine resources, it is essential that the type and load of pollutants be identified. So water samples were collected from sixteen stations covering Abu-Qir Bay, seven stations covering Lake Edku, one sample from El-Ammia Drain [TPS], and eight samples from the drains affected or entering lake Edku during April and May 2005. The hydrochemical parameters, i.e., water temperature, chlorosity, salinity, dissolved oxygen pH, total suspended matter, oxidizable organic matter, calcium, and magnesium as well as nutrient salts the nitrogen forms [ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate], the reactive phosphate and reactive silicate were investigated