Assessment of the multi-purpose suitability of water from the Senegal River Delta

The main objective of this study was to conduct a hydrochemical characterization of the treated water from the DFS and identify the different mineralization patterns of these waters, thereby improving understanding of their chemical composition.The mineralization of most of these waters is dominated by eight ions, commonly referred to as major ions, comprising both cations and anions.The turbidity results for the treated water were 0.81, 0.92, and 0.86 NTU at the Ronkh, Mboubene, and Mboundoum sites, respectively, all of which comply with the SEQ-EAU 2003 standard of 1 NTU.However, values exceeding this standard were recorded at Rawette (1.88 NTU), Ross Béthio (3.86 NTU), and Kassak (3 NTU).Regarding electrical conductivity, the water from the Mboubene site (54.8 µS/cm) had a very low mineral content (<100 µS/cm), whereas the water from the other sites fell within the low-mineral-content range.Furthermore, all treated water samples from the study sites were neutral, with pH values close to 7. Regarding the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), the Riverside diagram indicated that all the waters were suitable for irrigation, as their SAR values were approximately 2, below the threshold of 3.These results are consistent with World Health Organisation (WHO) standards and indicate that the treated water is safe for human consumption based on the parameters analyzed.The water is also suitable for irrigation according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) bulletin published in 2018.