MANAGEMENT OF GROUNDWATER RESOURCES IN WADI EL FARIGH AREA USING MATHEMATICAL MODELING TECHNIQUES

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University

2 Desert Research Center

3 Desert Research Center.

Abstract

Wadi El Farigh area is considered as one of the most important areas in the North of the Western Desert of Egypt. It depends on groundwater of Lower Miocene aquifer as a main source for agricultural and human resouces development. However due to an imbalance of groundwater regime in lower Miocene aquifer, the current study has been conducted. The main goal is the protection and management of groundwater in the Lower Miocene aquifer in the study area quantitatively and qualitatively and to prevent the lowering in the groundwater level which may lead to deterioration in groundwater quality. This goal is attained by developing a mathematical model that represents the hydrological conditions of the area through which four different scenarios for predicting the hydrological situation in the next ten years are conducted. The obtained results indicate that the hydraulic conductivity varies from 0.1 m/day to 25 m/day, the transmissivity coefficient varies between 1000 m2/day to 7000 m2/day and the specific yield varies from 0.011 to 0.32. It has been shown during the current study that the amount of groundwater extrated from the Lower Miocene aquifer in the studied area is about 57.07 Million cubic meters per year for the period from April 2013 to April 2014. Ten years of prediction from April 2014 to April 2024 reveal an expected drop in the groundwater level amounting to 7 meters. For the same period, the groundwater storage in the Lower Miocene aquifer in the study area is perdicted to be 7.72 million cubic meters per year. This means an expected loss in the amount of groundwater storage reaching about 49.35 million cubic meters through the ten years of perdiction if the current dicharge rate is maintained.
 

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