GIS-Based Groundwater Management Model for Western Nile Delta |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Mohamed?A?DawoudEmail author Madiha?M?Darwish Mona?M?El-Kady |
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Affiliation: | (1) Research Institute for Groundwater, NWRC, Egypt;(2) Research Institute for Groundwater, National Water Research Center, El Kanter El Khairia, Kalubia, Egypt;(3) National Water Research Center, Fum Ismailiya Canal, Shobra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt;(4) Present address: Water Resources Scientist, Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box. 45553, United Arab Emirates |
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Abstract: | The limited availability of renewable fresh water is a major constraint on future agriculture and urban development in Egypt.
The main water resource that Egypt has been depending on is the River Nile. Nowadays, the role of groundwater is steadily
increasing and will cover 20% of the total water supply in the coming decades especially in the reclaimed areas along the
desert fringes of the Nile Delta and Valley. Abstraction from groundwater in Egypt is dynamic in nature as it grows rapidly
with the expansion of irrigation activities, industrialization, and urbanization. One of these areas is the Western Nile Delta
in which the groundwater is exploited in many localities. To avoid the deterioration of the aquifer system in this area, an
efficient integrated and sustainable management plan for groundwater resources is needed. Efficient integrated and sustainable
management of water resources relies on a comprehensive database that represents the characteristics of the aquifer system
and modeling tools to achieve the impacts of decision alternatives.
In this paper, a GIS-based model has been developed for the aquifer system of the Western Nile Delta. The GIS provides the
utilization of analytical tools and visualization capabilities for pre-and post-processing information involved in groundwater
modeling for the study area. The developed model was calibrated for steady state and transient conditions against the historical
groundwater heads observed during the last 20 yr. The calibrated model was used to evaluate groundwater potentiality and to
test two alternative management scenarios for conserving the aquifer system in Western Nile Delta. In the first scenario,
reducing the surface water inflow while increasing the annual abstraction from groundwater by about 450 million m3 and improving the irrigation system could increase the net aquifer recharge by about 5.7% and reduce the aquifer potentiality
by about 91%. Constructing a new canal as a second management scenario could increase the annual aquifer potentiality by about
23%. The GIS-based model has been proven to be an efficient tool for formulating integrated and sustainable management plan. |
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Keywords: | Egypt GIS groundwater modeling groundwater management groundwater assessment Western Nile Delta |
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