Study of metallic contamination of the sediment Oued Martil: Impact of the anthropological activity

As many rivers crossing urban region in Morocco, Martil’s river feeding the cities of Tetouan and Martil suffers from an organic and metallic pollution problem under the effect of a rising anthropological pressure. In fact the recent study has detected a surprising phenomenon of sediment enrichment exceeding 280 ppm for Cooper (1, 21 mg/l), 90 for Lead (0, 35 mg/l), and 3 ppm for Cadmium (0,016 mg/l) downstream. The present work objective is to examine the reality of this metallic pollution and to understand the nature of the polluting sources. The metallic elements analyses have been done in sediment with an appropriate technical means. Results interpretation has been used by indices of contamination: Factor of enrichment, to identify the metal origin enriching sediment. This work has shown that the municipal dump situated at the river shore has a moderate and located impact on sediment for: Cu, Pb, and Zn. On the rest of the zone of study no other impact by the Pb has been detected, but the result indicated the existence of a diffusing geogenic source, recording relatively elevated degrees of the seven metallic elements in comparison to the upstream of the river.