A Study of Surface Water and Groundwater Pollution in Ibb City, Yemen   Esmail Al Sabahi1, Abdul Rahim S1, Wan Zuhairi WY1, Fadhl Al Nozaily2 and Fares Alshaebi 1 Geology program, School of Environment and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia. 2Water and Environment Center, Sana'a University, Republic of Yemen. email:
			ABSTRACT

A study was carried out to determine the land use impact on water pollution at three different sites, Al-Sahool, Mitm and Al-Sayyadah valleys around Ibb city, Yemen. Besides determining the status of water pollution, this study also aims to recognize the sources of pollution and the results will be used to identify the relationship between the impact of land use activities and water pollution. Groundwater samples were collected in all valleys. While leachate samples were collected only from Al-Sahool area and surface water samples from Mitm area. Groundwater was sampled from the existing wells that were drilled in these areas. Surface water and leachate were sampled from small stream and leachate ponds. The physico-chemical characteristic of leachate, groundwater and surface water samples such as pH, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved oxygen (DO) were measured in-situ, while fluoride (F), chloride (Cl), sulphate (SO4), nitrites (NO2), nitrates (NO3), ammonia-N (NH3-N), heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cd, Cu), major cations (Na, Mg, Ca, K, Fe) and biological parameters (COD, BOD5) were analysed in the laboratory. The results show that, the leachate from the landfill is in methanogenic phase. The BOD5/COD value of 0.1 mg/l obtained for leachate suggested the partially stabilization. For the groundwater at Al-Sahool area borehole two is the most contaminated borehole, in which physico-chemical parameters are higher, followed by borehole three, borehole four and borehole five. At Mitm area the surface water in general seems to be affected by the discharge of untreated wastewater based on the comparison with unpolluted surface water outside the area. The groundwater quality at Mitm area shows that, only three boreholes are contaminated due to the percolation of untreated wastewater. For Al-Sayyadah area, the low values of physico-chemical parameters indicate a clean area and this is due to the absence of sources of contaminations. In general, Al-Sahool area is the most contaminated area compared to Mitm and Al-Sayyadah areas. The contamination level at Mitm area is higher than Al-Sayyadah area due to the discharge of wastewater directly to the Mitm valley. Therefore, a leachate collection pond should be build to collect and treat the leachate to prevent further contamination as well as build more sanitary landfill facilities in Al-Sahool area to prevent further contamination. An additional wastewater treatment plant at Mitm area is highly recommended to prevent further contamination to surface and groundwater.

Keywords: surface water, leachate, groundwater, pollution, heavy metals.

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