Study of the impact of development activities on groundwater system in Abu Sifiera and Mubarak Wadis, Red Sea coast, Egypt

Abstract EN

the establishment and development processes in the promising wadis of the Eastern Desert through cooperation protocol between the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and World Food Program (WFP) in frame of Bedouins communities’ development project, Red Sea Governorate (2004- 2012), have attracted more attentions from the Egyptian government.

So, the scientific management of the water resources in these wadis plays an outstanding role to achieve this target.

This paper aims to evaluate the groundwater potentials in two promising wadis namely, Wadi Mubarak (75 km south El Qusier city) and Wadi Abu Sifiera (10 km south El Shalateen city).

Hydrogeologically, the water bearing formation in Wadi Mubarak consists of fractured basement rocks.

It is composed of older granodiorite and fractured metamorphic serpentinite rocks.

In addition, the hydraulic parameter of the study aquifer reveals good potentiality and good capability to transmit water through it.

On the other hand, the aquifer in Wadi Abu Sifiera is composed of wadi fill deposits of Quaternary aquifer, non-conformably overlie the weathered basement.

The investigated aquifer displays show low groundwater potentiality, due to small thickness of saturated zone, low hydraulic conductivity as a result of heterogenic of lithofacies laterally and vertically and low rate of recharge.

The aquifers behavior of both aquifers reveals continuous decrease in water level and deterioration of water salinity with time.

This phenomenon could be attributed to the mismanagement of water resources and non-implementation of advanced harvesting techniques for surface runoff, as well as, the high rate of evaporation in the study area.-