Tentative d'utilisation des détergents anioniques comme traceurs de pollution fécale. Expériences réalisées sur l'émissaire du Lez à Palavas

The hydrogeological research and study centre of the Faculty of Sciences of Montpellier has been studying for a long time the effects of surfactants, and especially of detergents, on rocks and soils permeability. The implemented techniques enabled us to go beyond the framework of their research and to tackle problems for which the solution is linked to the detergent dosage. A preliminary study was conducted in July 1967 on the Lez outflow in Palavas. It aimed to understand the possibility of specifying the extension of residual waters in measuring out the detergents existing in this latter, and to see if, as described by PAOLETTI in 1966 (8), these detergents can be used as a chemical index of faecal pollution in surface waters.