Environmental spring water
qualitative assessment in Natuf catchment - West
Bank
Accepted 18th
September, 2017
Marwan Ghanem1*, Anne
Dare2 and Hassan Jebreen3
1Birzeit University, Geography Department, P.O. Box 14, Ramallah,
Palestine. 2Purdue University, Office of Global Engineering Programs, Purdue -
USA. 3Birzeit University, P.O. Box 14, Ramallah, Palestine.
Assessment of groundwater
quality is essential to ensure sustainable use
of it for drinking and agricultural purposes.
This study was carried out to assess the overall
water quality and identify major variables
affecting the groundwater quality in the Natuf
catchment of West Bank. Groundwater quality
indicators were determined and integrated with
spatial information about the surrounding
environment. Three sampling campaigns were
conducted at 19 springs in the Natuf surface
water basin in Western Ramallah, and samples
were analyzed for physico-chemical parameters,
major ions, trace elements and total and fecal
coliform bacteria. Relationships between
different hydrochemical parameters reflect the
carbonate nature of the aquifers. Hydrochemical
evaluations show that most springs in the study
area are of water type (Ca-Mg-HCO3).
The presence of coliform bacteria and elevated
concentrations of trace elements point to human
impacts on water quality, and indicate the need
for groundwater protection efforts in the study
area.
Key words:
Natuf catchment, spring water, hydrochemistry,
water quality, pollution
This is an open access article
published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Cite this article as:
Ghanem M, Dare A, Jebreen H (2017). Environmental spring water qualitative
assessment in Natuf catchment - West Bank. Acad. J. Environ. Sci. 5(10):
174-183.
