2. Descriptive of the study area

Koudiate Medouar dam built in 1994 on Oued Reboa is located 7 km north-east of Timgad and 35 km from Batna in Algeria (Figure 1). The dam is located at the east longitude 6°300 <sup>48</sup>″ and north latitude 35°30<sup>0</sup> <sup>57</sup>″. It is a reservoir dam that mobilizes the surface waters of Reboa river whose watershed covers 59,000 km<sup>2</sup> .

Figure 1. Location of the study area.

Suitability and Assessment of Surface Water for Irrigation Purpose DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86651

About 48.72% of the population of Batna Wilaya, or 682,000 inhabitants, drink water from this dam that supplies the cities of Batna, Tazoult, Timgad, Ain Touta, Barika, Arris and Ouled Reach in the Wilaya of Khenchela. The climate of the study area is semi-arid, characterized by high temperatures and low rainfall. The average annual rainfall is about 370 mm, while the annual average temperature is around 15°C [6].

### 3. Methodology

pollution [4, 29]. The importance of developing a comprehensive strategy for water demand management appears to be a consequence of the exacerbation of the problem of scarcity of water resources due to drought, which has become more frequent with a longer duration [5]. Therefore, the main goal of this chapter is to evaluate suitability of surface water for irrigation purpose by appropriate parameters and

Koudiate Medouar dam built in 1994 on Oued Reboa is located 7 km north-east of Timgad and 35 km from Batna in Algeria (Figure 1). The dam is located at the

mobilizes the surface waters of Reboa river whose watershed covers 59,000 km<sup>2</sup>

<sup>57</sup>″. It is a reservoir dam that

.

indices in Koudiate Medouar dam in northeast of Algeria.

<sup>48</sup>″ and north latitude 35°30<sup>0</sup>

2. Descriptive of the study area

east longitude 6°300

Water Chemistry

Figure 1.

4

Location of the study area.

#### 3.1 Water sampling and analysis

Surface water samples collected from the dam basin during a year from February 2017 to January 2018. During water sampling, all samples were filtered on-site by 0.45-μm filter. The water samples were stored in 500-ml high-density polyethylene bottles (HDPE) for laboratory analyses. All water samples were kept at 4°C until they were analyzed with using standard methods APHA [7]. Measurements of pH and electrical conductance (EC) were carried out in field with the use of a portable multi-parameter analyzer Hem [8]. Major cations and anions including calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), potassium (K), sulfate (SO4), bicarbonate (HCO3), chloride (Cl) and nitrate (NO3) were measured in laboratory. Total hardness (TH) and Ca were volumetrically analyzed using standard EDTA. Mg was calculated by taking the difference between TH and Ca. A flame photometer was used to estimate Na and K. HCO3 and Cl were analyzed by titration with standard HCl and AgNO3, respectively. SO4 was determined using a turbidimetric procedure. NO3 was analyzed using the colorimetric method. The reliability of the data set generated was verified through electrical neutrality by the following equation:

$$\text{Error of ion balance} = \frac{\sum \text{Cations} - \sum \text{Anions}}{\sum \text{Cations} + \sum \text{Anions}} \times 100\tag{1}$$

The analytical data were considered doubtful beyond an error of �5% [9].
