Anwar Atta
Birzeit University, P.O.Box 14, Birzeit, Ramallah, Palestine
Marwan Ghanem
Birzeit University, Geography Dep., P.O.Box 14, Birzeit, Ramallah, Palestine
This study aims at determining the types of pollutants and their sources for the springs in the Natuf catchment/Palestine in addition to evaluating the socio-economic environmental impact on water utilization from residential people. Twelve spring water samples were collected for hydrochemical qualitative analyses of major and trace elements as well as microbiological analyses in the summer of 2017. Plotted spring water samples on the Piper Diagram indicated the water type of Mg-Ca-HCO3- and eleven samples could be classified as fresh water. Fifty questionnaires were distributed to the farmers and land owners in order to study the impact of socio-economic and environmental conditions for the spring water utilization. The study shows that 90% of local people are using the springs for agricultural purposes. The spring water chemical analysis indicates that they are free from industrial pollutants in regards that 84% of them are located away from the dumping sites. The study shows that respondents are not interested in rain water harvesting during winter season, because 44% of them have their own cisterns. The existence of the water network as well as the absence of the related authority role's contributes to the reduction of people’s dependence on spring water. The results will be used for the qualitative aspects potentiality of the appropriated rainwater harvesting techniques to be installed in the area. It is recommended to establish a qualitative monitoring network in Natuf watershed as well as for the springs of the other catchments in the west Bank.
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Copyright © 2021 Marwan Ghaleb Ghanem
This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.
