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Abstract:Waterlogging is an acute problem in the agricultural areas of arid regions. This study highlights the main reasons for water table rise in the Wafra agriculture area of South Kuwait. A two-tier aquifer system exists in the area, which consists of the Kuwait Group aquifer underlain by a semi-confined Dammam aquifer. Improper sealing of wells tapping the semi-confined Dammam aquifer and over-irrigation were the main reasons for water level rise, and an increase in total dissolved solids was due to high evaporation of brackish water used for irrigation in the area. Other issues such as thin soil cover, topographic variation, and geomorphology within the area play an interactive role in the development of salt crusts on the ground surface. The key solution to the problem lies with proper well design and irrigation management. The sealing of the wells tapping the Dammam Formation has resulted in the lowering of the water level, which has allowed the reclamation of farms. For sustainable management of the Wafra agriculture area, it is observed that only the Kuwait Group aquifer should be utilized for irrigation, dewatering should be carried out in selective low-lying areas, and the adoption of best irrigation practices can be the only way for sustainable agriculture development in the area. The use of tertiary-treated wastewater, along with groundwater from the Kuwait Group (KG) aquifer, can be a solution to sustain agriculture. The crop water requirement should be considered for irrigation application while using best practices such as drip irrigation.

In heavily populated residential areas lacking adequate subsurface drainage, leakage from urban water supplies and wastewater discharge causes groundwater levels in underlying shallow aquifers to rise. This may have serious consequences for the stability of building foundations, roads and natural landforms. This paper evaluates the performance of a dewatering scheme comprising of 15 vertical wells in two residential areas in Kuwait. The hydraulic effectiveness is evaluated from pumping tests and preliminary numerical modelling. The results show that the scheme can keep the water table at the desired levels over a limited area. The maximum predicted nodal drawdowns after one year of pumping at 16 835 m 3 d –1 were 4.2 and 5.24 m in the two areas. Further investigations are proposed with the objective of optimizing pumping rates.

The Kuwait Oil Company currently pumps about 10 Mm 3 /yr from one of its well fields in central Kuwait (Eocene Aquifer) and plans to increase this rate to 30 Mm 3 /yr to meet its water demand. The objective of this study is to investigate the sustainability of brackish groundwater resources for oil operations in the mentioned well field in a way to identify the consequences of increasing the pumping rates on groundwater levels and groundwater salinity. A suitable methodology to assess the sustainability of brackish groundwater utilization has been developed based on pumping tests in addition to flow and salinity numerical modeling. Extensive hydrogeological and salinity field investigations were also conducted. The results show that pumping rate should not be increased above 20 Mm 3 /yr in the aquifer of the study, otherwise a sharp decline in groundwater levels and a significant increase in groundwater salinity will occur. The results of the pumping tests show that the hydraulic properties of the Eocene Aquifer can support regional utilization of the aquifer, but any additional pumping wells should be located within a wider area than the current well field. The salinity variation analysis shows that a mixing process between brackish and saline water is taking place.