The goal of the research was to evaluate the heavy metal detection and potential ecological risks in lake’s water. Geological formations consisting essentially of sandstone and quaternary marine or dune sands characterize the study area. With a climate of the Mediterranean type winters are mild and humid, whereas summers hot and dry. At the analysis center of the Faculty of Sciences, the monitoring of ETMs is carried out by ICP-MS, the processing of data and the validation of the analysis method have been drafted according to the NF T 90-120 standard applicable to the analysis in a laboratory. The analysis covers concentrations of heavy metals, which include Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, Pb and As, in the water. Pollution load index ( PLI) values were above one (>1) which indicates progressive deterioration of the water quality. However, contamination factor ( CF) values of Pb and Cu, ranging from 8.31 to 15.68 and from 5.5 to 28.05 respectively, show that the studied water remains under a strong impact by Pb and Cu. Considering the severity of the ecological risk ( Er) for a single metal, the descending order of contaminants is Cu > Pb > Mn > Fe > Zn. In relation to the total ecological risk index ( RI), water from the lake shows low to considerable ecological risk.

In order to determine the nature of the high salinisation rate of the waters of Lake Sidi Boughaba, which has been listed in the Ramsar list since 1980, 23 samples that were taken during four sampling operations were subjected to physicochemical analyses. The obtained results were processed using a combination of bi-varied methods (correlation tests) and multivariate statistical methods (principal component analysis – PCA). The physicochemical analyses reveal that they are alkaline waters with a pH ranging between 8.38 and 9.03, an electrical conductivity ( EC) of the order of 12.4 to 17.4 mS∙cm ^–1, and high levels of Na ⁺ and Cl ^–, up to 3700 and 6630 mg∙dm ^–3 respectively, indicating a marine origin of these waters. In addition, the statistical treatment revealed that the mineralisation of the waters of this ecosystem is controlled by four main mechanisms of the salinisation; the main mechanism underlying this strong mineralisation is due to the impact of the marine spray. The second-order processes are about the phenomenon of the ion exchange, the dissolution/precipitation of evaporitic and carbonate formations, the oxidation–reduction processes, notably the reduction of sulphates as well as biochemical phenomena due to the selective absorption of certain ions by fauna and flora.