Assessment of Groundwater Resources Management in Wadi ElFarigh Area Using MODFLOW

Abstract

To face the sharp increase of population in Egypt, new areas are being reclaimed. In the new reclaimed areas of Wadi El-Farigh in Western Desert, the groundwater is considered the unique water resource for the irrigation purposes. Sustainable management of these groundwater resources is of crucial importance for Wadi El-Farigh where freshwater supply is naturally limited. The mild morphologic features of Wadi El-Farigh encourage the agricultural development beside new reclamation projects. In order to optimize and conserve the use of groundwater in these areas, some strategies should be considered, such as managing the supply and the demand, improving the efficiency of groundwater use, reducing the waste water and ensuring sustainability. For predicting the change in the groundwater system of the El-Moghra Aquifer In Wadi El-Farigh (MAIWF) as a result of random reclamation projects, a quasi-three dimensional groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) for planning and managing the groundwater problems was applied in this paper. The results of the model threaten the sustainability of the development in MAIWF. The maximum groundwater decline applying the current exploitation strategy (303703 m 3 /day) will reach 30m after 7 years while the decline will reach 35m in case of increasing the pumping rate by 15%. In addition, construction of the proposed new irrigation canal in the NE direction of MAIWF will improve the groundwater recharge (maximum groundwater decline of 16m). To conserve the MAIWF storage for longer time, it is recommended to reduce the number of the pumping wells (not more than 800 wells), reduce the initial and running time (not more than 12 hours), applying discrete irrigation system and achieving the objective of implementing the development policy with the groundwater recharge from the proposed new canal.