Delimitation of the Protection Perimeters of Dir Springs (El Ksiba- Ouaoumana, High Atlas, Morocco)

Abstract

The study area is located in the north of the province of Beni Mellal, it covers the Piedmont of the High Atlas between El Ksiba and  Ouaoumana. The Jurassic occupies the quasi-totality of geological point of view and staked by springs of flow rates sometimes important.  Faced with the increase in water demand and pollution problems, these sources are the subject of this study. The objective of  this work is the delineation the protection perimeters (immediate, near and far) of the Dir sources located between El Ksiba and  Ouaoumana. These perimeters were delineated based on the multicriteria analysis of multisource data (satellite images, geological,  topographic, land cover, inventory of pollution sources, hydrological, hydrogeological and vulnerability). Before delineating the  protection perimeters, the vulnerability assessment of the study area was carried out. For this purpose, three categories of vulnerabilities  have been highlighted. These are mainly very high, high and moderate to low vulnerabilities, representing respectively the percentages  of 21%, 47% and 32%. This approach allows us to delimit three protective perimeters (immediate, near and far), whose surfaces are  respectively of the order of 1600 m2, 302 Km² and 1094 Km²