Water Quality Assessment in the Nile River, Damietta Branch, Egypt

Water is one of the most important inputs for economic development. Management of water quality and control of water pollution and environmental protection are major issues to sustain living conditions. Recently, pollution of the Nile has increased due to increasing of population and related anthropogenic activities. Moreover, Egypt has been listed among the ten countries to be scarce of water by the year 2025 due to the rapidly increasing population. In this study, evaluation of water quality was carried out at two different governorates Dakahlia and Damietta. To evaluate the water quality of the Nile River-Damietta branch, twenty four water samples have been collected and analyzed for its physico-chemical characteristics including some heavy metals. Data obtained revealed the presence of high concentration of BOD, COD, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate as well as dissolved organic matter in the Nile at Damietta district compared to Dakahlia district. In the mean time, measured heavy metals (Fe, Mn and Pb) were recorded in high concentration than permissible limits of Egyptian and WHO standards. Consequently, concentrations of major chemical elements in the Nile water were correlated with the distance downstream from the source of the river, with water in the upstream reaches of good quality, but were relatively polluted at the estuary, supported by the results of water quality index (WQI). Therefore, evaluation of water quality and its management is in need to be done at regular intervals.