Parts of the irrigation canals networks passes through urbanized or
rural areas. This may causes some diseases due to many reasons
such as misuse of the residents in this area. The Ministry of Water
Resources and Irrigation decided to cover these parts of the canals
network by reinforced concrete (RC) as a part of the national
policy to improve the public health of the residents of those areas.
Once the canal is covered by RC, an important issue is raised
concerning the interaction between the covering materials and the
irrigation water. This present research investigates the interactive
environmental impact of the reinforced concrete covering and the
irrigation water compared to standards. Thus, the current
assessment adopted the comparison between the measured values
of the chemical, physical and biological characteristics and the
standard values provided by FAO and WHO. The 5th Ganabiat
Bahr Fakus, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt was selected as a case
study for the collecting samples for laboratory investigations. Five
locations along the irrigation canal near and at the covered part
were chosen in order to collect water samples. The
characterization of water samples was made at the Central
Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring (CLEQM),
National Water Research Center, (NWRC). The laboratory
investigation indicated that the values of physicochemical
parameters such as CO3, HCO3, TA, PH, etc., were almost
suitable within the permissible values for irrigation. However,
these values exceed the acceptable limits for reinforced concrete
itself and it may harm the concrete. In addition, the biological
assessment showed that the amounts of sewage water pollutants in
irrigation canals are about 10 and 100 times the average
permissible limits for the total coliform and fecal coliform,
respectively. Heavy metals assessment showed that, it has not
negative impact on irrigation water.