Hydrochemical and isotopic researches were conducted in El-Sadat City groundwater system to identify groundwater alteration, recharge, residence time and extent of pollution. The groundwater salinity gradually increases as the groundwater moves from northeastern to southwestern parts of the city. Groundwater generally shows mineralization decreasing with depth, indicating that the possibility of recent water penetration far below the surface is limited. Shallow groundwater has an elevated level of nitrate, which is attributed to anthropogenic sources due to intensive agricultural activity. The limit of high nitrate water may mark the maximum penetration of groundwater from the surface, which is found in depths \100 m. The northeastern and southwestern industrial areas are highly contaminated by some heavy metals, which may originate from some local industrial effluents. The sewage oxidation ponds seem to show no effect on groundwater; hence, these ponds are not a point source for these heavy metals. Dissolved ions depict five different hydrochemical facies, and stable isotopes define the recharge mechanisms, the origin of groundwater and the hydraulic confinement of deep groundwater. The deep groundwater is untritiated and has long residence times (in the order of thousands of years). Three different hydrochemical groups have been recognized and mapped in El-Sadat City, based on the chemical and isotopic information of the groundwater. These groups have different levels of contamination. The deep groundwater samples are significantly less impacted by surface activities and it appears that these important water resources have very low recharge rates and would, therefore, be severely impacted by overabstraction. The extensive exploitation of groundwater for drinking water supply would shortly be reflected by a gradual decline of the groundwater table in El-Sadat City. Amelioration of groundwater quality requires further management strategies and efforts in the forthcoming years.
The study area is a part of Wadi Qena, Eastern Desert. It is one of the largest promising areas for development in Upper Egypt. A new desert road was constructed to join Upper Egypt to the Red Sea, passing through the wadi. This accelerates the forms of development in the middle part of the wadi. The development focused on new cultivation farms established through the drilling of tens of wells to extract groundwater for land reclamation. The present study focused on the assessment of groundwater quality, its origin and suitability for drinking and agricultural purposes. This is made through the chemical analysis of a number of groundwater samples. A comparison of the water quality with the standard of drinking and irrigation water quality revealed that the water was not suitable for drinking purposes and could be used for high salt-tolerant crops. The evaluation of the saturation index (SI) of the water sample indicted that water was oversaturated with respect to iron minerals and undersaturated with carbonate minerals The analysis of the isotope data (d 18 O and d 2 H) of the water samples indicated that water samples of wells more than 500 m deep were mainly of Nubian sources (old water) and could be mixed by recharge from the Quaternary water. The other water samples showed that the origin of water was Quaternary, while the water samples collected from the shallow pits showed that water originated from the relatively fresh water. The study revealed that the old Nubian water was not renewable and should be managed properly to sustain the existing and proposed development.
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