The quality assessment of pollution of Rosetta branch, Nile River, Egypt

The Nile River is the major source of water and soils in Egypt. Silt is the main soil component of it. The Nile is one of the international rivers; it passes through ten countries in Africa and is divided into two branches, Rosetta and Damietta at the end of the River. A hydrochemical facies study of the Rosetta branch was done. The geochemical processes which control the water quality and its suitability for drinking, fishing, and irrigation purposes were evaluated. Thus, the hydro-environmental status is studied. Fifteen water samples were collected for determining the physical and chemical parameters. The results show that several parameters are above the desired limits. High concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity, total alkalinity, ammonia (NH3), electrical conductivity (EC), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chloride (Cl−), and sulfate (SO42−) were found. While a reduction in dissolved oxygen (DO) in the drains, especially Tala and El Rahawy drains, were noticed. In addition, residual sodium carbonate (RSC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percent (Na %), and magnesium hazard (MH) were measured. The results show that the salinity values for the selected samples minimized their utilization for irrigation. The results indicate that the main geochemical process in the study area is cation exchange and evaporation which control the main ion distribution.