Temporal and spatial evaluation of the River Nile water quality between Qena and Sohag Cities, Egypt

Bulletin of the National Research Centre

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the measured major characteristics of water sample

Parameter	Season	Min	Max	Mean	Q1	Q2	Q3	MAL	Passed %
pH	S	7.43	8.05	7.78 ± 0.19	7.6	7.84	7.97	6.5–8.5	100
pH	W	7.70	8.68	8.41 ± 0.23	8.39	8.45	8.54	6.5–8.5	96.6
TDS	S	130	270	148.7 ± 24.2	140	140	150	1000	100
TDS	W	128.8	409.9	208.9 ± 53	187.4	199.1	207.9	1000	100
Ca	S	24.9	45.7	31.1 ± 4.2	28.6	30.5	32.4	75	100
Ca	W	18.4	59.6	28.6 ± 7.2	25.6	26.6	30.7	75	100
Mg	S	18.5	38.5	24.4 ± 4.1	21.6	23.1	26.3	100	100
Mg	W	18.7	52.6	27.8 ± 7.7	22.1	27.5	31.6	100	100
Na	S	14.4	26.1	16 ± 2.1	15	15.6	15.6	250	100
Na	W	22.1	99.5	30.3 ± 13.8	25.4	27	29.4	250	100
K	S	1.4	6.22	3.7 ± 1	3.01	3.8	3.82	12	100
K	W	3.5	6.9	4.4 ± 0.6	4.2	4.4	4.5	12	100
Cl	S	28	57.2	43.7 ± 7.1	40	44	47.9	250	100
Cl	W	8.1	43.5	18.5 ± 8.9	12.1	16.2	23.2	250	100
HCO₃	S	122	274.5	157.7 ± 24.8	148.8	154.6	159.3	300*	100
HCO₃	W	166.4	517.4	263.5 ± 77.2	215.9	256.9	285.5	300*	87
SO₄	S	5	31.3	16.5 ± 7.3	10	15.6	20.6	250	100
SO₄	W	15	50	20.4 ± 6.4	18	20	20	250	100
NO₃	S	0	6.6	1.1 ± 1.5	0	0.5	1.5	50	100
NO₃	W	0.3	23.8	8.4 ± 5.7	3.9	6.3	12.9	50	100
SAR	S	0.45	0.69	0.52 ± 0.05	0.5	0.51	0.54	10**	100
SAR	W	0.78	2.52	0.96 ± 0.31	0.84	0.9	0.94	10**	100

W winter, S summer, Min minimum, Max Maximum, MAL maximum allowable concentration for drinking (WHO 2011)
Q1: 1st quartile (25% of samples); Q2: 2nd quartile (50% of samples); Q3: 3rd quartile (75% of samples). Passed %: the percent of samples acceptable for drinking
*HCO₃ acceptable value (in Zidi et al. 2017)
**SAR acceptable value (after Richards 1954)