الفهرس 
Chapter 1: IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The Nile River is the most significant water resource in Egypt, but it has a set flow of about 55.5 billion m3 /year under the Nile Water agreement in 1959. Egypt is now moving over the water poverty line, and with the growing population, it may experience a great disaster. Because of the existing challenges, it is necessary to look for other water resources such as groundwater. Groundwater plays a critical role in satisfying the water requirements of most arid and semi-arid countries like Egypt. Thus, the government is beginning to forward to groundwater use Egypt has high potential groundwater from six groundwater aquifers (Nile Valley and Delta Aquifer, Coastal Aquifer, Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, Moghra Aquifer, Karstified Carbonate Aquifer, and Fractured Rocks Aquifer). Groundwater is an essential source for industrial, agricultural, and domestic water supply, especially in arid regions. It must be managed to maintain it and be sustainable. Therefore, the study of groundwater became very important.
The main objectives of this thesis were to assess the quantity and quality of groundwater for the western floodplain part of the El-Minia governorate by developing a groundwater flow model and analyzing data using ArcGIS and MODFLOW. In addition, different management scenarios for increasing extraction rates from the quaternary aquifer have also been implemented.
Numerical groundwater flow modeling is one of the key tools used to evaluate water resource potential and predict future impacts under various circumstances and stresses. Thus, a model was developed to understand the groundwater system behavior in the Quaternary aquifer and to predict spatial distributions of groundwater levels and groundwater flow in responding to the water extraction.
The model was developed for the western floodplain part of El-Minia Governorate of area 1,600 km2 using GIS and MODFLOW- 2005 code. The model was calibrated manually using nine observation wells for the year 2004. The calibration was performed well in good agreement between the simulated and observed heads with a Mean Error of 0.05 and a Root Mean Square Error of 1.14 m.
The calibrated model was used to analyze different management scenarios of increasing abstraction rates from the unconfined aquifer of the El-Minia Governorate. Three management scenarios were suggested and simulated in this study. Scenario 1 represents the increasing abstraction from pumping wells by 25% from the base case, scenario 2 represents the increasing abstraction from pumping wells by 50% from the base case, and scenario 3 represents the increasing abstraction from pumping wells by 100% from the base case. These management scenarios were suggested to meet the expected expansion in agriculture areas or due to any expected decrease in surface water bodies.
As a result, when the abstraction from the aquifer increased by 25% compared to the current case, the average groundwater levels in the aquifer decreased by 7.6 cm. By increasing the abstraction by 50% compared to the current case, the average groundwater level decreased by 15.4 cm. Moreover, when the groundwater abstraction increased by 100 % compared to the current case, the average groundwater level declined by 31.3 cm. The findings showed that an increase in abstraction reduces the water levels of the aquifer, which is an unsustainable practice over time.
Egypt faces the challenge of providing good quality water, so the Nile River faces growing pollution sources in which industrial and domestic wastewater and agricultural drainage are the key sources of pollution. In this study, we assessed groundwater quality for the El-Minia governorate’s floodplain for suitability of drinking and irrigation purposes, using geographic information system (GIS) and hydrochemistry analysis and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Egypt drinking standards. To achieve this work, groundwater samples from twenty-seven pumping wells were collected and analyzed for Physico-chemical parameters, and the spatial distribution of these parameters was mapped using GIS for the study area. The results showed that the Electrical Conductivity (EC) ranges from 570 to 1990 μS/cm. 96 % of the collected groundwater samples are suitable for drinking according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Egyptian water standards, while 4 % of them are not, due to their high levels of salinity (>1,000 ppm of dissolved solids). The quality of collected water for irrigation was assessed using salinity hazard, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), magnesium hazard (MH), Kelly’s ratio (KR), sodium percentage (Na %), and Permeability Index (PI). All water samples are suitable for irrigation according to EC and SAR, but 52 % of them are not safe for irrigation when KR is considered. 74% of the wells are suitable for irrigation if Na% is considered, and 78% for RSC, 55.5% for PI, but only 33 % for MH. Assessing the groundwater quality in the El-Minia Governorate provides baseline information for policymakers and water resource experts to develop proper management, utilization, and planning of water resources for sustainable management.