Assessment of Seawater Quality of El-Dekhaila Harbor, Alexandria, Egypt

Water quality of El-Dekhaila harbor was monitored seasonally at nine samples covered the harbor surface water during 2011-2012. The chemical parameters of surface water reveal that pH, dissolved oxygen, oxidized matter, chlorophyll and total alkalinity were in the range 7.7- 9.16, 1.07-7.54 mgO2/l, 0.16- 9.92 mgO2/l, 0.0021-0.23g/l and 2540.3-4668.8μmol/l respectively. Nutrients salts in (μ M) showed variations 1.7-51.15, 0.17-12.5, 0.4-14.9, 0.09-17.1 and 10.3-77.3 for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, reactive phosphate and reactive silicate respectively. Depending on DIN/P ratio of seawater samples, phosphorus was the limiting factor. Principle component analysis (PCA) which was used to develop water quality index (WQI) revealed that, stations 1, 2 and 3 is highly polluted from water discharged from EI-Umum drain through EI-Mex pumping station.