Evaluation of groundwater suitability for drinking and agriculture use in the area between el Dabaa and Ras el Hekma, northwestern coast, Egypt

Abstract EN

Recent industrial and urban activities have led to elevated concentrations of a wide range of contaminants in groundwater, which affect the health of million people worldwide.

Groundwater is the major source for drinking and agriculture uses in the Northwestern coast of Egypt.

Forty five groundwater samples representing the Pleistocene and the Middle Miocene aquifers were collected from the area between El-Dabaa and Ras El-Hekma.

Samples were analyzed for total dissolved solids, calcium, magnesium, sodium and five heavy metals including; aluminum, iron, manganese, copper, and lead, using the standard methods.

The results show that, the total dissolved solids; calcium, magnesium and sodium concentrations have mean values of 8426, 264.5, 295.9 and 2390.1 mg/l, respectively.

The heavy metals show high concentrations in groundwater of Pleistocene and Middle Miocene aquifers.

The concentration of iron recorded the mean of 1.99 mg/l followed by aluminum 0.45 mg/l, while manganese recorded the lowest mean value of 0.09 mg/l.

The results show that, the majority of groundwater samples in different aquifers are unsuitable for human drinking due to high concentrations of total salinity, major ions and heavy metal constituents.

According to the international standards recommended by the National Academy of science (NAS) and National Academy of Engineering (NAE) the groundwater samples in the study area ranges from an excellent to not acceptable classes for the livestock and poultry uses.

Most of the groundwater samples in the Pleistocene aquifer (88% ) are unsuitable for domestic and laundry uses as the total hardness values are exceeding 300 mg/l, however; all the Middle Miocene groundwater are unsuitable for domestic and laundry uses.

Whereas, 71% of the total samples are unsuitable for irrigation according to total dissolved solids and about 93% of groundwater samples are unsuitable for domestic and laundry uses according to total hardness.

The groundwater samples tapping the available aquifers in the study area have to go through treatment and desalination processes using suitable and economical applied methods to enhance the groundwater quality and be considered as suitable for different uses.