An Investigation Concerning the Impact of Climate Changes on the Water Equilibrium in the Egyptian Nile Delta

Abstract

In such problematic water situation in Egypt, control and saving of the available limited quantity takes great importance from both technical and national points of view. In addition to all the well-known traditional reasons of the problem such as pollution, over usage, and bad traditions of dealing with water, a new very important reason is added nowadays, called “Climate Changes” which has a direct impact on sea water rising, that causes a serious attack of the salt water to the fresh water especially in River Deltas., Not only the surface water, but also the ground water. Since that process proved some acceleration, several investigations have recently considered the worst impacts of climate change and sea water level rise on sea water intrusion. Most of them have revealed the severity of such problem, and the significance of the land movement of the dispersion zone under the sea water level rise situation. In this paper, we try to introduce a technical review and study for the most popular studies concerning our topic, and its most important conclusions, as an approach for preparing the Ph.D. thesis about the Nile Delta water equilibrium in the light of the expected Mediterranean Sea water level rise. Nile Delta, which located between Damietta Branch on the East, and Rosetta Branch on the west, occupies about 20000 square kilometers of the most rich, productive land in Egypt. About 50% of Egyptian population live in that area, agriculture is the main human activities on them, so water is the prime factor in their life, and their agriculture investments. The great amount of this investment depends on the ground water, which faces a serious challenge due to, two reasons, first, is the overuse, and over pumping, while the second is the attack of the salt water due to the Mediterranean Seawater level rise, because of the climate changes. These two reasons must be overcome, if the first reason can be controlled by law, and technical roles, the second reason needs intensive studies and investigations concerning the interaction between seawater and fresh ground water.