ABSTRACT

Egypt is of the countries plagued by an arid climate and freshwater shortage. It has been forced to tap heavily into fossil groundwater reserves to attempt to meet the irrigation water demands of the ongoing rural development projects. Yet lack of information regarding the spatial and temporal variability of the aquifers’ storage brought great challenges for this resource management. The unmanaged groundwater use may lead to depleted levels and other dire consequences. Fortunately, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission provided a novel perspective for inferring groundwater storage variation. In this study, the monthly release 06 (RL06) GRACE solutions provided by three processing centers are used to detect variations in terrestrial water storage (TWS), which groundwater accounts for its major part, throughout Egypt. The GRACE-based anomaly of TWS along the period 2002-2021 showed a significant loss rate over almost all of Egypt. These charges are mainly attributed to changes in groundwater storage (GWS) due to natural and anthropogenic causes. The Sinai Peninsula and the western desert are undergoing a worrying groundwater depletion rate reaching 0.75 cm/year due to excessive pumping. The increasing trend along the Mediterranean coast is attributed to accelerated saltwater intrusion. The derived findings present a valuable source of information for understanding recent groundwater dynamics that can contribute significant skills for short- and long-term groundwater planning in Egypt. However, the data validation against in situ wells measurements, when available, is required to assess uncertainty and narrow bias correction of the GRACE technique to improve its skill.      

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ABSTRACT

Egypt's food crisis has prompted the reclamation of new groundwater-dependent areas. Thus, a massive development project that aims to turn vast expanses of desert into productive agricultural land has been proposed (the national project for land reclamation). Despite the urgent need for such rural development, it is perilous to just rely on fossil groundwater sources. The related policy of heavy groundwater withdrawal would alter the dynamics of the aquifers significantly, which could threaten its ability to serve upcoming purposes. Therefore, it is crucial to use these groundwater resources extremely carefully. Therefore, effective groundwater management is unavoidably needed, along with long-term feasibility assessments to ensure the project's sustainability, to avoid or limit the severe repercussions of resource misuse that are expected. It is extremely difficult to achieve agricultural sustainability while using groundwater resources wisely, especially at the projected heavy pumping rates. The proposed study seeks to give the local government the necessary scientific backing so it can develop policies that support the best groundwater supply for the current and future rural communities and agricultural areas north of the western desert. The goals go beyond just choosing a safe pumping schedule to prevent aquifer depletion and/or saltwater intrusion. However, implementing groundwater simulation models based on optimality approaches would bring about exploitation strategies that both maximize agricultural investment and guarantee the aquifers' suitability for prolonged development. The installation of brackish water scavenger wells and underground barriers, for example, are suggested as effective mitigating techniques to stop or slow the intrusion of saline water. The desired results would undoubtedly serve as the foundation for wise local water management choices that may balance environmental protection and the socioeconomic well-being of our country. This abstract is based upon work supported by Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) under grant number (46278).

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ABSTRACT

Egypt is standing at a critical juncture regarding the availability of adequate water supplies to satisfy its development plan. As a follow-up, a strategy hereby groundwater would contribute to covering the increasing water demands for all purposes through abstractions from numerous pumping wells has been adopted. There is a crucial need for such extensive groundwater abstraction to fulfil the water deficit that would be exacerbated under the increasing population growth rate; However, lack of and mismanagement of groundwater exploitation jeopardize the aquifers to depletion and/or deterioration. Thus, it is of utmost importance to manage these aquifers to promote a sustainable groundwater supply, avoiding overexploitation that bears negative impacts. Given their predictive capability, simulation models often offer a viable means for providing input to management decisions, as they can forecast the likely impacts of a particular water management strategy. This work presents a comprehensive review of the simulation modelling applications for the management of nonrenewable groundwater reserves in Egypt. It intends to measure Egypt's groundwater resources management status based on readily available information from related research articles. It thereby demonstrates the need to frame a rational strategy for the long-term sustainable exploitation as well as restoration (quantity and chemical quality) of the Egyptian aquifer systems. Conclusions are drawn where gaps exist, and future research is suggested to obtain a regional groundwater framework directive. 

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ABSTRACT

An arid climate accompanied by a freshwater shortage plagued Egypt. It has resorted to groundwater reserves to meet the increasing water demands. Fossil aquifers were lately adopted as the sole water source to provide the irrigation water requirements of the ongoing reclamation activities in barren areas. Yet, the scarcity of measurements regarding the changes in the aquifers’ storage poses a great challenge to such sustainable resource management. In this context, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission enables a novel consistent approach to deriving aquifers’ storage changes. In this study, the GRACE monthly solutions during the period 2003–2021 were utilized to estimate alterations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) throughout Egypt. Changes in groundwater storage (GWS) were inferred by subtracting soil water content, derived from the GLDAS-NOAH hydrological model, from the retrieved TWS. The secular trends in TWS and GWS were obtained using the linear least square method, while the non-parametric technique (Mann–Kendall’s tau) was applied to check the trend significance. The derived changes in GWS showed that all aquifers are undergoing a significant loss rate in their storage. The average depletion rate over the Sinai Peninsula was estimated at 0.64 ± 0.03 cm/year, while the depletion rate over the Nile delta aquifer was 0.32 ± 0.03 cm/year. During the investigated period (2003–2021), the extracted groundwater quantity from the Nubian aquifer in the Western Desert is estimated at nearly 7.25 km3. The storage loss from the Moghra aquifer has significantly increased from 32 Mm3/year (2003–2009) to 262 Mm3/year (2015–2021). This reflects the aquifer exposure for extensive water pumping to irrigate newly cultivated lands. The derived findings on the aquifers’ storage losses provide a vital source of information for the decision-makers to be employed for short- and long-term groundwater management. 

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ABSTRACT

Moving towards horizontal expansion in the vast barren lands to alleviate overpopulation along the Nile River is imperative to Egypt’s 2030 sustainable development strategy. Accordingly, a mega reclamation project was advocated with a key goal of achieving food self-sufficiency. Solar-powered groundwater pumping system was adopted as the main water supply. Planning efforts are therefore inevitable to help locate the most favourable sites for such extensive cultivation activities. Herein, a multicriteria decision analysis was conducted to facilitate the zoning of potential rural communities across the northern portions of the Western Desert of Egypt. For this purpose, data of groundwater exploration, soil characterization, terrestrial accessibility, insolation intensity, and terrain information were fused to produce a high-resolution suitability map. The analytical hierarchy process approach was adopted to set the weighted importance of adopted criteria. The study area was categorized into Best, Good, Moderate, Fair, Poor, and Restricted classes at 1.7%, 13%, 42.6%, 26%, 10%, and 3%, respectively, of the entire region, while the constrained plots were masked out. The implemented and proposed wells fields within the underway national rural development project extend over agriculturally suitable pixels affirming the validity of the developed geospatial model. About 1.5 million ha, representing 7.2% of the undeveloped area, were found to be highly suitable for future expansion of agribusiness activities. The generated priority map will assist the decision-makers in the planning procedures for ongoing reclamation activities throughout Egypt.

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ABSTRACT

Groundwater (GW) in the Nile Delta aquifer (NDA) is one of the most abundant freshwater sources of Egypt. Different activities such as agriculture, GW pumping, urbanization, industrial discharges and waste disposal significantly impact the quality of GW. Therefore, GW pollution has become a critical environmental issue in Egypt. The increasing use of fertilizers, pesticides, and the saltwater intrusion (SWI) into Mediterranean’s coastal areas put the GW of the Nile Delta (ND) at a high risk of contamination. Furthermore, increasing pumping discharges and Sea Level Rise (SLR) further exacerbate the rate of SWI and deteriorate the GW quality of the ND. Understanding GW vulnerability is crucial for decision makers to manage GW resources and assess risks effectively. Moreover, GW modelling provides a comprehensive overview of water flow and contaminant transport through aquifers, aiding in assessment and GW resources management. This book chapter provides insights on the previous GW vulnerability studies, GW modelling, SWI modelling, and GW management studies in the NDA. The research can be applied to future resource management for GW in the Nile Delta (ND), freshwater protection, and risk management.

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ABSTRACT

To achieve its ambitious plans to reclaim its deserts through mega projects, Egypt is heavily relying on fossil or little-recharged groundwater. This article revisits the results and methodologies of the studies conducted over the last two decades on groundwater management and uses in the Western Desert. Most previous studies aimed at simulating different groundwater abstraction scenarios by modeling local areas in aquifer systems, but with poor definitions of boundary conditions and limited historical data. Studies were constrained by the unavailability of data, access difficulties, and high collection costs in desert lands. Thus, to propose reliable sustainable groundwater resources development plans and recommendations for future protection strategies, an open-access monitoring network representing regional aquifers is needed. More investigations based on extensive field visits are essential to monitor environmental, economic, and social conditions, identify constraints, and learn lessons for reclaiming desert lands. Moreover, this review highlighted the need to frame a rational strategy for the long-term sustainable exploitation of non-renewable groundwater in the aquifer systems of Egypt and develop an appropriate exit strategy for desert communities in case of serious water resource depletion.

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ABSTRACT

The Moghra aquifer is being intensively exploited within a mega desert reclamation project in Egypt. Due to the ongoing unprecedented overdraft, a drastic drawdown was observed in such a nonrenewable aquifer. Ration pumping was advocated to maintain a drawdown threshold and avoid paleowater depletion. The aquifer potential in terms of water storage may satisfy the water duty of the proposed development. However, seawater intrusion (SWI) would exacerbate the imposed stress on the aquifer to supply agricultural-suitable groundwater. Herein, a comprehensive approach integrating a GIS-based model with hydro-chemical indicators was adopted to assess the aquifer's intrinsic vulnerability to SWI. GALDIT is a representative mapping index for evaluating SWI vulnerability using six hydrogeological parameters. Sensitivity analysis was implemented to determine the relative influence of each criterion. The resulting significance of each parameter was used to develop an actual-weighted vulnerability map. Moreover, the hydrogeochemical analysis, including the hydro-chemical facies Evolution (HFE) diagram and groundwater quality index (GQISWI), was integrated to accomplish the SWI investigation. GALDIT rated two-thirds of the development area as moderately vulnerable, while one-fifth was highly vulnerable. The correlation strength between the GALDIT-based vulnerability maps and the TDS measurements confirmed its reliability. However, the modified GALDIT model outperformed in zoning the highly susceptible plots. It has expanded the high and medium vulnerability classes by 13.38% and 5.17% of the wells' field area. Piper diagram distinguished 94 out of 101 samples as (Na+ - K+ - Cl− - SO42−) ion association, indicating the presence of SWI. HFE diagram classified most (91%) samples as Na–Cl chemical water type. However, the GQISWI was more consistent with the GALDIT index, rating 77 wells as mixed water and the others as saline. The findings urged implementing management measures for remediation and mitigation of the aquifer salinization.

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ABSTRACT

Groundwater-dependent cultivation is imperative to meet the ever-increasing food demands in Egypt. To explore the Moghra aquifer’s potential, where a large-scale rural community is being established, a finite element groundwater flow (i.e., FEFLOW®) model was invoked. The developed model was calibrated against the observed water levels. GRACE-based groundwater storage was incorporated into the tuning procedure of the developed model. Eight abstraction rates from 1000 wells, changing from 800 to 1500 m3/day/well, were simulated for a 100-year test period. The maximum resulting drawdown values, respectively, ranged from 59 to 112 m equating to about 20–40% of the aquifer’s saturated thickness. The implications of the climate change from gradual sea level rise and an increase in crop consumptive water use were investigated. Extending seawater invasion into the aquifer caused a slight increase in the piezometric levels within a narrow strip along the seaside. Applying a chronologically increasing withdrawal rate to meet the projected increment in crop water requirements raised the maximum resulting drawdown by about 7.5%. The sustainable exploitation regime was defined as a time-increasing withdrawal rate adequate to reclaim 85,715 acres (34,688 ha). The recommended development scheme is compatible with the withdrawal rationing rule, aiming to maintain that the resulting drawdown does not exceed one meter a year.

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ABSTRACT

Groundwater-dependent areas in Egypt are being reclaimed as a result of the impending food crisis. Thus, the national project for land reclamation aims to turn vast tracts of desert land into productive agricultural land. Even while this kind of rural development is desperately needed, relying solely on fossil groundwater sources is a dangerous course of action. Therefore, it is crucial to use these groundwater resources quite carefully. Selecting a safe pumping schedule to prevent aquifer depletion and/or seawater intrusion is just one of the goals. However, using groundwater simulation models based on optimal approaches would introduce exploitation plans that, at the same time, guarantee the aquifers' sufficiency for continued development and maximize the agricultural investment. Thus, a groundwater flow model was generated using the FEFLOW software to explore the Moghra aquifer’s potential for extensive rural development. The maximum pumping regime that coincides with the regulation rule that was set by the MWRI for the next 100 years has been concluded. There is a potential for sustainable exploitation of this water resource to irrigate a total area of 85,715 acres (34,687 ha). The resulting drawdown is expected to reach 95.4 m. Furthermore, a few mitigating techniques are suggested as efficient ways to stop or impede the saltwater intrusion, such as the installation of subterranean barriers and brackish water scavenger wells. Without a doubt, the intended findings would serve as the foundation for wise local water management choices that might strike a balance between the socioeconomic welfare of our nation and environmental preservation. The outcomes of the project can be used by decision making and stakeholder to achieve sustainable water resources management in the new lands for reclamation projects in the northwestern of Nile Delta, Egypt.

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