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Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present investigation has been conducted to characterize the groundwater resources in the area between El Agami and El Hammam, northwest coast of Egypt, and to evaluate its quality as important factors of reliability. A combined tool based on hydrogeology, hydrochemistry and environmental isotopes has been functioned for conducting the investigation.
The groundwater under study is dominated by a moderate to high stage of mineralization, where TDS ranges from 2000-5000 ppm. The major ions in the composition are Na+, Mg++, Cl- and SO4-- and the major hypothetical salts are NaCl, Na2SO4, MgSO4, CaSO4 and Ca (HCO3)2. The environmental isotopes variations indicated that the major sources of groundwater recharge in the study aquifers come mainly from Nile water system (irrigation, drainage, Mallahat Mariut) and winter rainfall and that sea water intrusion, if present, is local and not so effective in comparison with other sources. These also indicate a case of evaporation before recharge and /or mixing with evaporated sources (e.g. Mallahat water). The seasonal variation of isotopic composition reflects that the rise of sea water level in winter season may cause sea water invasion in the local zones close to the coast.
The fresh water recharge that reaches the study area is developed into more saline water under the effects of:
1. Leaching and dissolution of terrestrial and marine salts (calcite, dolomite, gypsum, halite).
2. Evaporation and / or mixing with evaporated water (Mallahat, lagoonal, sabkhas, salt marches).
3. Ion exchange / inverse ion exchange.
4. Little and local sea water intrusion at the very close proximity to coast.
The investigation has also introduced an evaluation for the usability of the groundwater under study for different purposes (drinking, irrigation and industry). Among the several factors that affect the safety of siting of hazardous installation in the study area, two were chosen and analyzed as a first pointers for any further evaluation, one of the two factors is related to assessment of pollutant transfer in the hydro-geological system under study and the other is related to the frequency and severity of the external natural events (e.g. hazard of rainfall induced flooding).