Beta
20003

Impact of Alexandria Corniche Road Widening on Mediterranean Sea Water Quality, Egypt

Article

Last updated: 22 Jan 2023

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Background: The Corniche is the main road that runs along Alexandria's coastline. Since 1998, certain developmental activities have been undertaken along this road, aiming at widening it in order to overcome the traffic congestion and to compensate for the erosion of some beaches. Objectives: to assess the impact of such developmental activities on the Mediterranean Sea water quality. Methods: During the period from July 2011 to March 2012, a single water sample was collected monthly during summer and winter seasons from four chosen beaches. Sea water samples were subjected to physical, chemical and microbiological examination. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine the variation in sea water quality following Corniche Road Widening Project. Besides, an assessment of the quality of sea water in the selected beaches was carried out by comparing different measured characteristics with national and/or international standards. Results: Results of the study revealed that Corniche Road Widening Project did not cause any statistically significant difference in any physicochemical characteristic of sea water in both Sidi-Bishr and Cleopatra beaches. As for Stanly beach, dissolved oxygen (DO) and nitrate increased significantly (to 7.7 ml O2/L and 3.9μmole/L respectively) and, in Shatby, DO increased while turbidity and alkalinity decreased significantly. They were found to be 7.7 ml O2/L, 0.045 NTU, and 1.6mEq/L respectively. Concerning the biological characteristics of sea water, there was a statistically significant difference in four parameters measured in Shatby beach. With respect to sea water quality, beaches under study were all complying with Egyptian guidelines, WHO and USEPA as regards physicochemical properties. Concerning microbiological quality, all samples were complying with WHO and EPA levels for enterococci except in August. Conclusion: The study recommends the use of best management practices for all construction projects with possible impacts on water bodies, and emphasizes the importance of environmental impact assessment studies and continuous monitoring of sea water quality for public health protection.

DOI

10.21608/jhiph.2013.20003

Keywords

alexandria, biological characteristics, Corniche Road Widening Project, Physicochemical characteristics, sea water quality

Authors

First Name

Rim

Last Name

Hussein

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Environmental Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

rimahamid@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mona

Last Name

Abd El-Aziz

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Environmental Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Anwaar

Last Name

Arafa

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Environmental Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Olfat

Last Name

El-Sebaie

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Environmental Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

43

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

4039

Issue Date

2013-10-01

Receive Date

2018-11-29

Publish Date

2013-10-01

Page Start

175

Page End

184

Print ISSN

2357-0601

Online ISSN

2357-061X

Link

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/article_20003.html

Detail API

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=20003

Order

8

Type

Original Article

Type Code

511

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of High Institute of Public Health

Publication Link

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

-

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023