Restoring Water and Salt Balance of Qarun Lake, Fayoum, Egypt.

Abstract

The current paper aims to study the water and salt balance of Qarun Lake in Fayoum, to find out the causes of the increase of water levels and salinity of the lake. Therefore, the field data, geographic data, climatic data, digital elevation maps and satellite images were combined to produce data for developing SOBEK-1D2D model. With the new approach of adding new evaporation ponds to withdraw saltwater from the lake, to eliminate excess water from the lake, as well as to reduce the salt content of the lake. Several water and salt balance scenarios were designed. The results showed that the effectiveness of the new evaporation ponds in reduction of the water levels of Qarun Lake and reducing the salinity. Moreover, leading to increase the capacity of the lake to receive new quantities of the agricultural drainages, which provide the opportunity to increase the water share for Fayoum Governorate and reclaim new agricultural lands.