Environmental Monitoring and Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Abu Rawash Electric Generation Plant, Egypt

Abstract

Groundwater in Abu Rawash area has particular importance where it is the source of water used for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes. Nine groundwater samples from shallow wells were available during summer 2019 and were analyzed for physicochemical characteristics. The physicochemical parameters indicated that the water type is dominance of Na-K-Cl-SO4. These data has been used for preliminary evaluation of suitability of groundwater for irrigation purposes using groundwater quality indices which are irrigation water quality index IWQI, Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), and Permeability Index (PI). The average obtained values of IWQI, SAR, RSC, PI respectively were 32.91, 25.35, -31.17, and 76.55 mg/l. According to the IWQI classification, approximately 67% of the groundwater samples were served restriction with no toxicity risk for most plants, while about 33% of samples were high restriction on their use for irrigation. According to the SAR classification, approximately 44% of the groundwater samples were fairly poor, while about 56% of samples were Unsuitable on their use for irrigation. Based on the RSC and PI classification all ground water samples were more suitable for irrigation.