TITLE:
Groundwater Rising as Environmental Problem, Causes and Solutions: Case Study from Aswan City, Upper Egypt
AUTHORS:
Sayed A. Selim, Ali M. Hamdan, Ahmed Abdel Rady
KEYWORDS:
Aswan City, Groundwater Level Rising, Quaternary Aquifer, Urban Areas
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.4 No.7,
July
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: This paper examines the
rise in the level of the groundwater in the Quaternary aquifer at Aswan city,
Upper Egypt. Since the 1960’s, the areal extent of Aswan City and the urban
populations are growing at a high pace which introduces new sources of water
that increase groundwater recharge. As a result of leakages or infiltrations from
different sources, the natural groundwater balance is overturned into an
unbalance where the input to water table is comparatively much more than the
natural groundwater flow towards the Nile River. The present study shows a
variation in the groundwater level, from 1971 up to 2014, where the water table
rising ranges between 12.55 and 13.69 m. Also, it shows an abrupt increase in
the water levels in 2010 continuing up till now. The groundwater rising
phenomena that happened in 2010 can be directly refereed to the cessation of
groundwater pumping from El-Shallal wells, and to the reduction of pumping from
KIMA factory wells. Generally, the rate of water rising is much higher in the
western side of the city and in Kima factory area, where they are characterized
by low relief and dense population. The most troublesome groundwater mounds
under urban areas are likely to develop in low-lying areas of relatively high
permeability aquifer, which is not exploited for water supply. These damages
will become more widespread if the rising groundwater table remains
uncontrolled.The environmental
impact of the water rising includes: forming ponds in low lying areas (Kima and
El Shallal ponds), flooding building’s basements, and inundating underground
infrastructure.A general
deterioration in groundwater quality was identified.