Environmental Pollution

**3**

**Chapter 1**

*Moufti Ahmed*

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

southeast of Youssoufia.

Characterization of the

MineFluoride-Contaminated

Water and Their Detrimental

In Youssoufia, the second phosphate mining center of our country (Morocco),

the drinking water needs of the rural population are of underground origins. Indeed, most of Youssoufia's rural areas feed on traditional wells. The main purpose of this chapter is to evaluate the degree of contamination of mine water along the pumping canal by fluoride. Wells located near this channel were also analyzed to see the influence of the existence of black phosphate in this region on these wells. At the end of this analytical part, it is obvious to conclude that the dewatering waters of the black phosphate mines of Youssoufia, known as dewatering water along the canal, contain significant fluoride concentrations in the order of 3–4 mg/l on average and the waters of the wells located near this canal have fluoride concentrations higher than the standard recommended by the National Office of Drinking Water in Morocco and the World Health Organization which is 1.5 mg/l. Indeed, a number of

**Keywords:** fluoride, characterization, Morocco, mine water, human health

suffer either from the lack or the intolerable waste of this vital density.

In Morocco, the establishment of a water resources management policy both quantitatively and qualitatively is not a whim of organization but a necessity for survival. In fact, the reserves of drinking water are not infinite, and many regions

In Youssoufia, the second phosphate mining center of our country, the drinking water needs of the rural population are of underground origins. Indeed, most rural areas of Youssoufia feed from traditional wells, the closest to each Douar. The drinking water supply is made from four holes of the BAHIRA water table located 24 km

On the other hand, there is black phosphate mine water that is not waste water, in the common sense of the term, because it has never actually been used. These are the waters of a multitude of superimposed layers drowning the different layers of phosphates in the southern zone of the Gantour deposits, which requires

Effects on Human Health

residents residing in Youssoufia suffer from fluorosis.

Youssoufia-Morocco-

## **Chapter 1**
