Physiochemical and Microbial Assessment of Water Quality in the Upper Litani River Basin, Lebanon

Abstract

Water resources in Lebanon are witnessing serious challenges and reached depletion. One of the major challenges is the quality deterioration, which is accompanied with uncontrolled resources management, and thus the increasing demand. There are several consumption aspects, mainly the domestic, industrial and irrigation. Yet, exploitation of water resources in Lebanon implies both the surface and groundwater. However, surface water resources are most used due to the ease of exploitation processes, and more certainly water from rivers. Typically, the Litani River is the largest one in Lebanon. The river has been lately subjected to several aspects of deterioration in its quality. This includes the major physiochemical characteristics. This study aims to assess the seasonal variations in water quality in the Upper Litani River Basin, including the Qaraaoun Lake. Samples were collected from particular sites along the river, and at several dates during the years of 2010 and 2011. The carried analysis implies the physical (pH, T°, TDS, Ec), chemicals (Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^?, SO₄^2?, NH₃⁺, NO₃^?, PO₄^2?, K⁺, BOD₅ and COD, Heavy metals (Fe, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr, Al, Ba, Pb, Mn) and microbiological parameters. This resulted numeric data are being compared with WHO guidelines. In addition, PCA was applied to evaluate the data accuracy. We can conclude that the variables used are very efficient and the dry season shows the worst water quality with nitrate, metal and microbial enrichments.

Keywords: Water Contamination, Human Interference, Litani River, Principal Component Analysis.